THE PRESS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 807, 27 April 1853, Page 4

THE PRESS.

The following article, extracted from ihe Melbourne Argus, will be read with considerable interest, as it affords an illustration of the effect which the gold discoveries in Australia have had on the Colonial Press. The comparison made between the daily circulation ©f some of the leading London journals, and that of the Melbourne Argus will be rather unexpected to many in its results, and .will afford curious matter for reflection. The editor of ihe Argus, after professing his earnest desire to uphold the character, develope the legitimate influence, and improve the position of the Press, proceeds as follows :— " By a singular «baiu of we are in a position to do something ef this kind now ; and as we take care ibat the particular publication which we prepare for the English steamer* is very extensively circulated throughout Great Britain, we ariil ourselves of this opportunity of giving oar brethren of the btotd-shtet a bint^ which we hope may be of use to them; and which ought to do something to awaken them 1p a vivid impression of the false position in which the British Press allow* itself to continue. As" a type of what we cannot but call the degraded position of the Press of Great Britain, we may ■ refer to the dtily newspaper* of London, the Metropolis of England ; the great centre, as we are accustomed to believe it, of the intellectual world. In speaking thus we do not mean to disparage the talent or industry with which the British papers are conducted, but we speak solely with reference to their entire inattention to one of the first -principles of the management of a newspaper,— its universal diffusion throughout the community for which it is prepared. By the statements laid before a Select Committee of the House of Commons in the year 1851, we find the daily circulation of the Times stated at 35,000 ; we find that of the Morning' Advertiser quoted at 5,000 ; that of the Daily News at 3,500 ; that of the Morning Herald at 3,500 ; that of the Morning Chronicle at 2,950 ; that of the Morning Post at 2,650. Leaving out of the question for the present the great Times, the position of which is of course peculiar ; and the Advertiser, which is placed by its proprietary of 3,000 members beyond the category of ordinary newspapers, we find • combined daily circulation amoogst the otber journals we have enumerated, of 12,600 copies for this *' metropolis of the world," this "great intellectual centre," nhis " emporium ef art and science, of 'Commerce, wealth, and learning!" with a population of upwards of two millions of inhabitants ; itself the growth of centuries ! What will our brother journalists think of the fact that a daily newspaper in Melbourne has a circu> latioo nearly equal to all those we h«ve enumerated put together? But such is the fact. The circulation of this journal now amounts to ten thousand five hundred copies, or some hundreds more than that of the Daily News, the Morning Herald, and Morning Chronicle combined. And this in a little city of yesterday, which, even in its present crammed condition, does not contain probably more than 60,000 inhabitants ; tbis in ' a little colony not yet out of its " teen*, 1 ' and numbering a population of not more than a quarter of a million 1 Is there not something flagrantly wrong here, Gentlemen Editors ? Are you doiug justice to the public, whose interest ft fs your duty to sludy, in allowing such a state of things to ex-! ist? Is this marled anomaly not sufficiently t striking to convince intelligent men like you, that there is something grossly defective in your; system! Ought the much-vaunted Press 6f much-vaunted England, to be in a condition thus miserably hampered io<3 effete, when this, one of the youngest or htr children, can teach her such a lesson t Ought we to be able to administer this friendly, but severe rebuke ; not. merely reasoning on probabilities as to what might be done, but showing what has been done, end i* done this very day on which we write ? Fie upon you, ye magnates of the fourth estate ! Shame ; shame upon your laggard efforts, your dull intelligence, your mean conception of what is possible, and what is right ! You are guilty of a dereliction of a duty of the most sacred character. You are betraying a solemn trust. You are wilfully burying your talent in a napkin ; and must not complain if one day you find that you have to answer for the sin ! The circulation of the Times is something enormous, we are accustomed to be told. It amounts to a daily isiue of thirty-five thousand, while the people of Great Britain, foe whom that journal is supposed principally to cater, number upwards of twenty-seven millions. The Argus supplies ten thousand copies to a population of two hundred and fifty thousand. Thus, did the London Times equally vindicate its position with th* Argus, and achieve • circulation equal to our own relatively to the population to which we appeal, it would have a dotyy circulation of upward* of a million copies. Let that fact sink into your hearts, Gentlemen of the grey-goose-quill ; and let the mechanician begin with all convenient baste to scratch bia bead, and arouse his slumbering ingequity to provide the readiest mode of supplying so enormous a demand. Emphatically we direct the attention of our brethren to oxxtpresent reality as a sigh of tbeir possible future ; and we speak with come authority, as, with the sole exception of the London Times, we claim to have the largest circulation of any daily paper in the wide circle of the British dominion*. And why is it that the little Argus of little Melbourne, can thus outnumber the mighty Chronicles, and Heralds, and Morning Posts of mighty London ? The answer is an obvious one. The Press is free, — free, not only from any very serious legal or political liability, but free from all the antiquated abominations of stamp duty, paper duty, advertisement duty, fyc, by which the Press of Great Britain is still so barbarously fettered. And what is the consequence ? That the usual price of a newspaper in England is

fonrpence, five-pence, or six-pence, while the. Argus is delivered every morning tt tlmost every house in Melbourne at the rate of three-half-pence to our ordinary subscriber!. The charge for advertisements is equally low, as an announcement containing thirty words is inserted for one shilling, and other longer notices in proportion. Now the demand of any intelligent community for newspapers is very great indeed. People in England, reared in a different system, have no conception of it. Man has been designated as a cooking animal, a bargain-making animal, and so on ; but in the c"ye of the newspaper proprietor, he is most emineutly a newspaper-reading animal, and an advertising animal. These natural predilections may be crushed out of him by stamps and taxes, but the wants exist still ; and if the unnatural restriction were removed, the dormant appetite would exhibit itself in a manner that would perfectly astonish these slumbering giants of the Fourth Estate, whote ear we now venture thus gently to tweak, in the plenitude of our brotherly love towards them.