OLD NEWSPAPERS AT MUSEUM

Southland Times, Issue 24826, 19 August 1942, Page 3

OLD NEWSPAPERS AT MUSEUM

Lord Nelson’s great victory in the Battle of the Nile 144 years ago is faithfully recorded in a copy of The Times (London), dated October 3, 1798, which is among the latest gifts to the Southland Museum. The copy is one of three historic newspapers which have been handed in by Mr L. S. Graham, of Invercargill. The others are The Morning Advertiser (London), issued in 1794, and a copy of The Egyptian Star, issued during the last war and containing accounts of the progress of the war in 1915. The account of Nelson’s victory over the French Fleet at Rosetta is not the only item of interest in The Times. October 3 was the anniversary of the birth of the Duchess of Wurtemberg, a relation of King George HI and the day was honoured by a picnic at Dorchester. All subjects were invited to attend and to take part in a sports programme in which grinning (through a horse collar) was rewarded for special effort. A round of beef was the prize for a cricket match and a Michaelmas goose was claimed by the best diver (the goose had to be dived for). Other items on the programme were: A cheese to be rolled down hill, the prize to go to the stopper; a pound of tobacco to be grinned for; a barrel of beer (conditions same as cheese); a good hat to be cudgelled for; half a guinea for the best ass in three heats; a leg of mutton and a gallon of porter to the winner of 100 yards in sacks; a pig for whoever caught him by the tail, and half a guinea to the rider of the ass who “won” the best of three heats by coming in last!