A REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2314, 11 August 1921, Page 3

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 France and Flanders. The paper consisted of sixteen pages, and was printed on machinery foumf 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 1 lit* 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 extraordinarily high 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 scraps of paper nvnilnble, but limy have been referred to in the very highest terms by English and American papers, which state that the literary quality of the magazine must he regarded as of outstanding merit, even if they bad 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, hut that its literary merit entitled it to rank very highly in the journalistic world.

On his rotlU'ii from the front, the editor, Mr Phillip L. Harris, decided to the production of the famous trench paper. Many people doubled 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 now on sale throughout New Zealand, is a lightly packed assortment of cheerfulness and interest. It contains a lot of philosophy that can be taken with a smile. About fifty 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 allows that “Aussie” knows good verse when it sees it.

“Aussie” should achieve a good sale iu New Zealand, where good art, good humour, and good literature are appreciated.