THE AUSSIE.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 658, 12 August 1921, Page 7

THE AUSSIE.

A REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT. The history of journalism contains some remarkable instances of papers produced under novel and peculiar conditions. The most remarkable is probably that of Aussie, a paper produced during the war by the Australian Diggers on the battlefields of Fiance and Flanders. The paper consisted of sixteen pages, and wjts printed on machinery found among the ruins of French villages, and a good deal of the paper used came from the same source. The whole of the printing was done by Australian soldiers, and contributions were accepted only from soldiers in the forward area of the war zone, And yet, despite the fact that the villages in which the magazine was printed were frequently bombed or shelled (on one occasion the plant was almost completely wrecked), the printing was of a remarkably high quality. But most remarkable of all was the extraordinary hi g-h standard of the literary and artistic contents of the magazine. Most of these were written or drawn by soldiers whilst actually under fire in the front line trenches on any scrap of paper available. but they have been referred to in the very highest terms by English and American newspapers, which state that the literary quality of the magazine must,be regarded as of outstanding merit, even if they had been done under the very best conditions. Several well-known English papers have stated that not only was the paper the most remarkable trench paper printed on any front during the war, but that its literary merit entitled it to rank very highly in the journalistic world. On his return from the front, the editor, Mr Phillip. L. Harris, decided to continue the production of the famous trench paper. Many people doubted that Aussie would be able to continue to live up to its war-time reputation, but produced under the more comfortable conditions of peace time, it is more than living up to its former reputation.

The August issue, which is new on sale throughout New Zealand, is a tightly packed assortment of cheerfulness and interest. It contains a lot of philosophy that can be taken with a smile. About 50 per cent, of the space is taken up by original drawings, which are of a very high quality and of remarkable variety. Short stories are numerous and well written. As is usual with an Australian periodical, a fair percentage of the space is given to verse, and the quality show's that Aussie knows good verse when it sees, it

Aussie should achieve a good sale in New Zealand, where good art, good humour, and good literature are appreciated