THE "MAIL."

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 374, 5 July 1877, Page 2

THE "MAIL."

The question, " Why don't you publish the Mail earlier ?" has been so often repeated that it has become stereotyped upon the editorial mind. The circumstances call for an explanation which, when given, will let the public into a few of the mysteries and difficulties of evening journalism. We are quite aware that at one time the Mail was published at an earlier hour, and that a notification appeared in its columns to the effect that it would appear at four o'clock. That has, however, been withdrawn. Under the old regime, this was not difficult. It will, no doubt, have been observed that a very considerable change has been wrought of late in the conduct of the paper, and we claim that it has been for the better. Had the reign of scissors and paste continued, we see no reason why we could not publish, with our increased staff, at two o'clock. But we have, in consequencs of the attention we have given to matters of local interest, allowed our paste to become mouldy and our scissors to rust. So far from experiencing the difficulty that the public would expect in finding sufficient matter to fill our columns of a nature interesting to our readers because it treats of local questions, we are often compelled to hold over items of importance to a subsequent issue. Not only have we ceased to be dependent upon outside journals for matter to fill our columns in consequence of the ferreting propensities of our reporter, by which we have been enabled to drop the usual prefix, " The Pickaxe says, &c." ; but we have, instead of giving these stale items clipped from other papers, when a week or more old, instituted a system I

of telegraphing that will keep our readers du courant with everything of any importance that traspires in any part of the Colony, almost at the moment of its occurrence. Warnews, which has now become of very considerable interest to the Colony is disseminated in Oamaru within a few hours after the incidents of which it treats have occurred. All this has entailed increased expense ; but as the present management believed that it is the quality and not the quantity of the matter that will either make or break an evening paper, it deemed it wise to try the experiment, and the result has been, as was anticipated, most satisfactory. The only thing to be regretted is, that we cannot give all fiesc advantages and publish earlier. The evening papers in Dimedin, Auckland, and Wellington, do not publish their town editions till six o'clock, or thereabouts, and in some instances the papers are not delivered in the suburbs till nearly eight o'clock. We take it as a very great compliment that we should even be requested to do more than can be accomplished by the proprietors of the papers just mentioned with their ponderous appliances and other advantages derivable from the conduct of papers in large commercial cities. Our readers may rely upon our best being done to place The Mail in their hands as early as possible, consistent with the publication of news that we are sure they would rather wait for than be deprived of altogether.