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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 193, 12 August 1873, Page 4

The New York Paper Trade Journal of the lst. ult., gives the following estimate of the ptofits of the various persons interested in makiDg a hook. Approximately, out of one dollar that is paid, s»y, for one copy of an ordinary hook, the money goes thus: —to the author, 10 cents; the publisher, 10 c. ; the papermaker, 15 c; the bookbinder, 15c; the printer and stereotyper, 10 c; the retail bookseller, or to him and his customer, 40 c; total, 1 dollar. Tbe Melbourne Argus says : — After something like a year's experiment, it is found that the amount which The Argus and Sydney 3lorning Herald are called on to contribute for European telegrams is at the rate of between £9 000 and £10,000 per annnm. Every reasonable person will admit (sa>s the Argus) that an additional item of £5,000 a year in the cost of producing a paper, is a matter which calls for serious consideration. We have no doubt however that our almost daily summary of English and foreign news iB looked for with great interest by most of our readers ; but, although this is the case, it bas not been the means, so far as we can ascertain of extending our circulation hy a siDgle copy. We have every reason to believe that the experience of all our contemporaries who have gone to the expense of furnishing their readers with European intelligence by joining the Associated Press is similar to our own in this respect. In countries which couDt their inhabitants by millions, journalistic enterprise is sure to meet with its reward. Not so, however, with us, wbo have only thousands in place of millions to deal wiih. No increase of circulation we could reasonably expect would go a very long way towards defraying the heavy expenditure these telegrams have imposed on us ; but as a matter of fuet, no increase at all from that cause has taken place. The result is, as we have stateo, namely, a loss \ to both the Sydney A oming Herald and j ourselves of an annual sum bordering on '■- £5000. We have always been anxious and willing to treat our readers generously, and have begrudged no reasonable outlay; but it can hardly be expected, looking at the matter in a fair business-like point * of view, that we should go on supplying the public with this costly telegraphic intelligence, without receiving one additional pennypiere in return. The Argus \ concludes its article by saying: — We shall j still continue to give all really important ] items of news, but messages will be very ; very much contracted in length, and will only be forwarded when there is some- \ thing of very general interest to coromu- ; nicate. Anything of secondary moment, \ however interesting it might prove to cer- ] tain portions of the community, will ; necessarily be withheld, for in this way i only can we reduce our expenditure within \ reasonable limits. For three centuries past man has vainly attempted to penetrate tne mystery cf the Polar Seae. The amount of courage displayed, and the enterprise and hardy endurance manifested, witness to the noble i and persevering endeavors of our seameu ; '. but, beyond producing such testimony, we j fear the results have been somewhat I barren* Tbe long-lalked-of North-west I passage has been disposed of, and the " open polar sea " would appear too doubt- ** ful au adgantage to be worth risking more \ valuable lives over. It is but a few months > since, that the scientific world loudly de- '■ Bounced the conduct of the Grovernment in refusing further substantial aid to Buch undertakings ; and vow we have a sad story to hand respecting the American 1 j expedition, which wa9 despatched from. New York under the command of Captain C. F. Hail, in the summer of 1871. A steamer, wbich reached our North American possessions during the past month, reports having picked up, off the coast of Labrador, an open boat, in which were nineteen survivors of fhe crew which sailed with Captain Hall io 1871. The tale that < these men tell is wild in tbe extreme, but \ still within the range of possibility ; and therefore can hardly be discredited, unless : other evidence, of a contradictory nature, \ should be forthcoming. Their ac- j count is to the effect that, in the \ autumn of last year, whilst engaged j in landing provisions, the ice patted, and" j these men drifted away from their ship, and were gradually swept to the south by the current. In fact that when discovered, . they had lived on the open sea for 196 days, during the early part of the time on a mass of ice some five miles in cir -cum fer- j ence at first, but which gradually was ! reduced, by the actior} of the warmer ; water through which it passod, to such ! small dimensions that they thought it j safest to take t. O their boat, which they i had very for-; UDa fc e iy managed to keep uninjured. Acccording to the statement, of these cutaways, Captain Hall died in Novemb' drj iß7i ? ao( i it is likely that his c h'.ef officer, now Captain Boddiugton, 'with the balance of tho crew, is afloat somewhere in tbe extreme northern latitudes, far removed from the chances of help, and passing through miseries such as we hardly care to dwell upon, Presuming that the story told is true, we are forced to think for the sake of the advantages likely to accrue to science from such exploration, we are not justified in exposing our fellow- being sto the tortures of death by famine or cold dimly outlined by the facts before us. — English Paper.