LIBERTY OF THE PRESS.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 70, 9 November 1864, Page 5 (Supplement)

LIBERTY OF TH E PR ESS.

There is a class of people who ,aKe^;UU(ler a'; very erroneous impression that any* kind; ,6f notice may be inserted in tho advertising columns of a newspaper so long as it is paid for, afnd. tlie writer's name is attached. Indeed it *vflir"oecasionaily happjn-that the gentleman 'in oa.* oilicj whose duty it is to receive advrt.semei.ti, is told, when he ' rejects r .& notice of announcement which coukl not be inserted in any reputable journal, that he is 1 bound to do it ; and frequently it is insisted (fruitlessly nevertheless) that it shall be done. As a specimen of what occasionally occurs in this way, we give tho folLowing, which passed at our office on Saturday last : — [Enter a very hirsute, stalwart being, having the appearance of a sly grog shanty keeper — very dirty, more than half tipsy, aud exhaling the odour of ruin most offensively.] Pitching down.a-yery crumpled piece of paper, apparently the tiy.-ieaf ;»of-a. book, he exclaimed "How much ?" "^\ ■ Press Representative reals, shakes his heaJ, an.lan.-nvers " Can't go in at any price." Shanty-keeper: But I pays for it! Press Representative : Can't insert it. Shanty-koeper : My name's there. Press Representative : Can't insert it, I tell you. Shanty-keeper : Then I'll make yer. Press Representative : No, I think not. Shanty-keeper : Now, just you put that in. If yo.i don't look out! Your head ain't thicker than many a chap's I've punched before now. Press Representative (civil but stubborn): Can't go in. sir, on any account. Shanty-keeper : Just come out, then, into the stre< t. Press Representative sticks the paper on a file, and says he will refer to head-quarters. Tl-is was done to save his head, and the man walked away, uttering an obscene oath. The oifered advei tisement for which the clerk's head was to be punched if it was not inserted is here transcribed, the names only being altered to avoid head-punching or criminal prosecution for libel: — "Tom Kaferty had better keep out i'vom coining to my tent. His wife won't com bak no more to him. Siie's a-goin' to live with me. Who wa- laggid for steeling blankits and boiled from fieDu. t hole — Yours, Tom Dully." — Ma rlbo rough Press.