THE TIMES NEWSPAPER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6509, 6 January 1882, Page 3

THE TIMES NEWSPAPER.

(Harper's Monthly.) The Times has often been called the Jupiter of the press. As emblematic of its power, the title is well chosen. Among all the newspapers of the world, none has wielded so wide and extensive an influence as this great English paper. If buildings have a physiognomical character of their own, those of The Times are peculiarly representative. Face to face with The Times office, you confront a stu'dy, immovable institution. Enter and make a tour of the premises, and you are impressed with the air of order and repose that pervades every department. There is no hurry in The Times office. Even when the last "forms" go down to press, they go in a calm, systematic fashion. No rushing, no calling, no noisy, hammering accompanies the operation. Now and then something nearly approaching a fuss attends the insertion of the weather chart or a war map into the latest pages, but this is of rare occurrence. It is of the entire establishment, with its employes, belonged to a maohine manipulated by unseen hands. "Another source of surprise is that there appear to be but few people in the place. You might reasonably expect to meet an army of compositors, stereotypers, machinists, clerks, reporters, messengers; you'only Bee a few persons going about their work with a quiet unobtrusiveness, though The Times does employ quite an army of men. They are disciplined, however, as carefully as an army should be, and they go about as if they were always conscious of the responsibility of serving "Ihe Thunderer." Just as the artists and " supers " at the Lyoeum Theatre seem to move as if under the constant eye of the presiding genius of the theatre, so the persons employed in The Times office always appear to feel that they are in an exceptional and distinguished service. This sense of order and regularity in Printing-hquße square is not disturbed, even though the'proprietors invariably oooupy the van of mechanioal progress in regard to the production of a newspaper. The first to use maohine presses, the first to drive them by steam, the first to introduce type-setters, the first to adopt the telephone and the eleotrio light, there is no proposed change or improvement in connection with their business that, seeming to them worthy of consideration, the proprietors of The Times have not tested, and adopted when experience has approved the change. Mr John O. Macdonald, a oapable gentleman, with the natural shrewdness and perseveranoe of his nationality, has for many years been the practical manager j of the paper. Most of the ohangos and improvement* have been carried out under his supervision ; many of them have been inaugurated by him. With his permission, little as this is to say, we may not have said it, for it is hard to tell which most predominates in Mr Maodonald's oharaoter, the wisdom of practical experience or the unostentation of native modesty. A few weeks since, when I took my friend Mr Bidley to make a pictorial sketch of Printinghouse Square, and the old doorway with the well known testimonial inscription over it, the square, the doorwav, the whole plaoe, had been transformed The Times office had been rebuilt. The change was not in any way typical of the Phconix rising from the ashes of a conflagration (as at Chicago, where the v«ry site of The Times office there was lost in the flames), for there was no suggestion of aihos, no debris of fire, ni» traok of destruction. Cleanliness and order reigned as before. Calm, stendy-looking compositors were setting up types near the new windows, as they were doing near the old ones years before | though in plaoe of the old grimy brioks, new, offices, spick and span, looked down upon us on all sides through plate glass windows. The Knglish sentiment in regard to the preservation of troes is touchingly illustrated ia the new square by the

pretence of a smoke-grimed trunk, which in the winter itretohei withered looking arms towarde the new building, and in theiummer puti forth a few green leaves that whisper to the printers, as they come and go, suggestions of woods and meadows and qu'.et rural landsoapes. The ordinary public that reads its morning newspaper ever breakfast has a very vague idea of the tremendous organisation of men and means and machinery necessary to the daily journal's production. Apart from the correspondents, the telegraphists, the steamers, the railway I trains, that are engaged in iU service abroad, there are at home the editors, leader-writers, critics, reviewers, reporters, messengers, a multitude of persons, men of the highest culture and learning, down to the nimblest of chronicler*, telegraph clerks, and messengers These, formidable as in their power, simply supply the pabulum, the manuscript, the material for manufacture. How great and how little all this is an outsider can hardly appreciate until he ha* seen a leading newspaper at work. The Timet oflace is a vast machine shop and factory. Everything in the plaoe, except the paper, is made on the spot. The Walter machines were made here, as were also those which print the Daily News, the Scotsman, the Liverpool Foil, Btbe New York Timet, and other papers. Indeed, the whole of the appliances in the printing of the paper and lighting of the rooms (even the electric , lamps) are manufactured on the preI mises, which embrace machine shops, type, stereotype, and electrotype foundriep, electricians' laboratories, &.c. The whole of the new building! were designed and buiit by Mr Walter and Mr Macdonald, without the aid of architeofc or contractor. The very bricks were made on Mr Walter's estate at Bearwood, and brought to London by his own people. The intervention of third parties, such as contractors outside the control of Mr Macdonald, would have made the reconstruction of an establishment like The Times during its business hours almost an impossibility. The top floor of the building is devoted to the bound files of the paper. Descending to the next, you come to diningrooms and kitchens—one department for the clerks, another for the compositors and workmen generally. The service is conducted on canteen principles, and as a rule all the employe's are glad to have the opportunity of taking their meals here. The kitchens are fitted up with every modern appliance. The meats are not baked, all kinds of joints together, in one oven, as is the case in most

English restaurants, to the utter destruction of their individual character and flavour; they are roasted before open fires. I noticed that there is a complete staff of cooks, with a chef, who appears to take a special pride in his art. On this floor there are also storerooms and other apartments. Ab yon descend you come next to broad and high composingrooms, lighted with electric lamps. Cloakrooms are provided for the men, each article of clothing being checked by an attendant after the manner of New York club-houses Here and there are quiet offices, with telephonic and other machines in use and on trial. One room is devoted to the special Paris wire. By the side of the telegraph, which reels off its message on the now quite familiar roll of paper, is a type-setter, so that the Fariß letter is put into type, hot as it comes in, from the slips themselves. In another apartment are telephones connected with the reporters' rooms at the Houses of Parliament. Daring last session all the night reports were sent to the office through this medium. The stenographer writes out his notes as heretofore, then the manuscript is read off through the telephone. The recipients of the messages at The Times office dictate them to the typesetters, and so they are put into type. The manuscript comes up from the Houses as heretofore, and goes into the reading-room, so that the proofs are read by the original copy, thus checking the telephonic dictation. The type-setting machine is made in The Times office, and is as near perfection as it is likely to be in our time. In a corner of one of the great composing-rooms there are six or seven of these little machines. They are capable of "composing" three parts of thenews portion of the paper, each putting up fire cr six columns a night. The editorial and writing rooms occupy the next story below, and convenient to the chief's desk is a telegraph in direct communication with Mr Eeuter's office.

A pneumatic tube is used right through the premises for the distribution of "copy," proofs, and messages. On the ground floor are the machines, engines (the latter in pairs in case of accident), foundries, and publishing offices; so that the last operation of production, the printing of the forms, is conducted with the added facilities of approximation of departments. The forms come down ; they are stereotyped ; they pass to the machine; the paper is printed, and goes forth into the publishing office, which opens its doors at about 4 each morning to the carters and porters of Smith and Sons, who are the chief distributors of the leading journal. In front of these busy rooms, cut off from the heat of the machinery, and having an outlet upon Queen Victoria street are the advertising offices and the letter and enquiry department. From the aspect of a manufactory and governmental bureau in one, the establishment now assumes the appearance of a bank.. The similarity is not without: point, for here come in " the sinews of war." In this department there is a telephone ia communication with the Boyal Exchange, whioh can be switched off to the offices of all the leading advertising agentj in the city. The inquiry department is for the use of persons who chose to have their letters addressed to The Timet office, for consulting the files, and other purposes—a convenience which the public evidently appreciates. The Times, with all its ramifications and influences, reaching from Printing-house square to the uttermost ends of the earth, constitutes one of the modern wonders of the world; and nothing about it is more remarkable than that it may be said to have grown up in our day. The art of printing has been literally revolutionised by the present Mr Walter and Mr Macdonald.

I The Times was started in 1785, under the title of the Daily Universal Register, and adopted its present title three years later. It was originated by Mr John Walter, grandfather of the present chief proprietor, Mr John Walter, M.P. for Berk«hire, who earned for his paper th« sobriquet of " The Thunderer" by his bold and fearless attaoks upon national abuses, his defence of the right, and his defiance of all obstructions that the wroDg migat plant in his way. On the 29th of November, 1814, The Times was printed by steam, the first instance of steam being applied to printing. " The Book of Days," Mr Grant's " Newspaper Press," and " British Manufacturing Industries" contain details of this notable change in the production of newspapers, and the reader who desires to investigate it is referred to these and kindred works. The Times is still a high-priced journal (3d), is printed on superb paper, and its Btaff inoludes some of the ablest men in Europe. It j»ayj princely salaries to its departmental chiets and foreign correspondents, and stands by its writers with a loyal tenacity. "The Waltor Printing Pwss," which is capable of printing 22,000 to 24,000 an hour, is the invention of the present Mr Walter, wko supplements his scientific studies and journalistic duties with the onerous labours that belong to a seat in Parliament. The Walter maohine was constructed under the superintendence of Mr Macdonald, who is constantly engaged in working out some new scheme for the reduction of labour and the perfection of tho art of printing. It were too great a tax upon these pages to say in how many directions The Times management is ougaged [ but tho Walter • succession in Printing-house Square is wonderfully maintained.

When a stamp duty wai enforced upon advertisements, The Times paid £70,000 in one year (1830) to the Government. If this exaction had been continued, as well as the penny stamp on eaoh paper, The Times, on its present sale and its present number of advertisements, would have had to pay the Government over £450,000 a year. I am not in a position to siy whnfc the income of The Tim** is, but taking Mr Grant's flguret for advertwemeate, and a minimum tab of

70,000 copies, its returns amount to quit* £1,036,000. Touching the profits divided on the other journals, the following figures, while they are not authoritative, are pretty generally accepted in journalistic circles as approximately correct: — Dailu T legraph, £120,000 a var } Standard, £65 000; Daily Newt, £30000; Morning Pott, £IO,OOO. Thirty years ago, The Timet, whi-h is not given to boasting, stated in an editorial article that its gross income ■«» equl to that of the most flourishing of the German principalities. The chiefs and writexs of The Times have little or no personality in connection with Printing-house square. This is a t-aditioo of the paper, which is jealously maintained. Yet great names crop up in its literary history. Mr Disraeli wrote f->- i f - undor the signature of " liunnymede," 31- Vernon Harcourt was " Hutoricus;" Wd Sidney Oodolphin Osborne wrote abave the initials " 5.0.0." Captain Stirling wa* at one time its principal lea ier-writer, end Stirling had. Thomsa Carlisle for his Mr Robert Lowe while he wa« a ceding the focial a:>d political scale, fire* m a Tuortiber of Parliament, then as Cabinet Minister, and next as a peer of the realm, wrote editorials for The Timet. Mr Leonard Courtney, member of Parliament for Liskeard, is a number of its staff. The late Mr John Oxenford, the mort accomplished and scholar y dramatic critic of his time, has been succeeded by Mr Morris, whose father was for many years one of the best known managers of The Timet, lb

Oxenford's colleague, Mr James Davidson, still holds office as musical critic, having ra these latter yea- s of his veteran service the assistance of Dr Francis flueffer, a musician and critic of considerable distinction. Mr Abraham Hayward is supposed to be Mr Mr Chenerj's right hand in the editorial room. The late Mr Tom Tajlor was for many years the art critic of The Times. Mr Blowitz is intimately known by 'he modern governments of France as its Pari* correspondent. In one of Sardou's most recent Elays the Anglo-French journalist is said to ave been represented on the stage at an exciting period of the drama, pl«ing his vocation under difficulties. Since Mr Gladstone himself has been burlesque - cr> the English, stage, M. Blowitz will hardly feel that he is dishonoured by similar attentions ia Paris. Famous mer. are not alwajs walking on paths that are strewn with roses. In these days there are two names more popularly known in connection with The Timet than any others. One is that of the late Mr Delane, and the other that of Dr William H. Bussell. No man in our day wielded a greater power, no man of any day : exercised his strength with a hiehrr sense of responsibility, than Mr John Delane, for 36 years editor of The Timet, and whose death the press generally regarded as one of the calamities of 1879. 1 hough a hard worker both in society and at his offir-e, and accustomed to keep late hours, nearly always staying at Printing-house equaro until T/te Times went to p<-ess. Mr Delane was a florid, healthy-looking man, more like a country gentleman than a laborious journalist. Lord Palmerstor had a similar fresh, " breezy" face, and it is notable that mar.y of England's hardest-worked men are bright, active, stalwart-looking examples of hnn,ar.i'y. lord Chief Justice Cockburn, how ruridy his cheeks were, how bright bis etes, to the last! Mr Anthony Trollope has the a:>p* arar.ee of rural health, though he is up as Sve o'clockevery morning at at his desk. Mr Sa!a, who often writes more in a week than some of his contemporaries do in a month, is '' rcsy as the mora," and as full of cheerfulness as a stripling. His " copy " ought to be < xhibited for the emulation of young journalists. The late Tom Taylor's manuscript; was as undecipherable as Sala'e is neat ar.d f"i?iirct. When Mark Lemon was editing Punch, writing novels, and speculating in joint s'ock companies, he was a picture of FaterafSm cbe<rfukess. Mr Burnand, with white hair and grey be&id, ia boyishinthe exuberance of his animal spirits. Work agrees with weli balanced constitutions. Mr Gladstone, Charles Dickens, Lord Palmeraton, Sir Edwin Landseer, and Mr Gladstone's "match-box Chancellor of the Exchequer" were Delane's intimate friends. He was a frequent visitor at Broadlacd's ; and the Countess of Waldegrave did not think a great reception at Strawberry Hill complete without him. He was respected byall, and beloved by many. When bis health, compelled him to withdraw from the editorial charge of The Timet, many of his hardestheaded colleagues, who had worked for him and with him for years, could not keep back their tears as he shook their hands and bade them good-bye. Mr Delane was the sor of the previous financial marager of The Times who died in 1858. The late famous editor was bom October, 1817, and was educated ai Magdalen Hall, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1839, and was called to tte bar ia 1847, He joined The Times in 1839 as assistant editor under Mr Barnee, 3nd succeeded him on his dsath in 1841. Mr Delane followed Ins chief ia ISSO, having on his resignation a year before been succeeded by Mr Cher.ety. The new chief, one might imagine, from the paragraphs that have beon published as to his personality, to be a dry-as-dusfc ph losepber in word and deed and appearance. On the contrary, he is a pleasant conversationalist, and has a good deal of that freshness of complexion which characterised his predecessor. He is grey to whiteness, and wears his beard and moustache. Of medium height and build, he looks younger than his age by snrao year?. He was born in Barbadoes in 1826, wts educated at Eton and at Caius College, Cambridge, and was afterwards ca'led to the bar at Lincoln's Inn. Dr Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, appointed him the Lord Ak-oner's Professor of Arabic at Oxford in 186 <; he took his degree of M.A. about the same time; and a year later the Sultan of Turkey nominated him a member of the second class of the Imperial orWer of the M« djidie. In 1870 he was appointed by the committee of the Convocation of Canterbury one of the revisers of the authorised translation of the Old Testament. He is honorary secretary of the Boyal Asiatio Society. The works that make his l aute respected among Oriental scholars are his translation of " The Assemblies of Al Hariri." with notes historical and grammatical, and hi* edition of '"Machberoth Ithiel," by Jehudah Ben Shelomo Alkharizi.