DEATH OF SIR EDWARD BAINES.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 474, 24 May 1890, Page 4

DEATH OF SIR EDWARD BAINES.

A Romance of Journalism. Sir Edward Baines died on the 2nd of March at Leeds, in his ninetieth year. The fc wo Edward Baineses, father and son, were largely instrumental in expanding the power and brightening the character of English provincial newspapers. That the ‘ Leeds Mercury ’ should for nparly a century have remained in the hands of two generations of the same family is itself a noteworthy fact, but the connection of the Baineses with it is also ono of the romances of journalism. The entry of the senior Edward Baines into Leeds was not unlike the first appearance of Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia. He arrived from Preston in the year 1795, a young printer in search of employment. He obtained a situation in the ‘Mercury ’ office. There he completed his apprenticeship, and a few years later the journal passed into his own hands. He immediately changed the character of the paper. He introduced short leaders and comments on news—features that were previously absent from its columns and until then had been scarcely known in the provinces. He also sought out news, instead of trusting, as had formerly been done, to what reached the paper fromoutsidesources. When in his sixteenth year, Edward Baines, jun., came from school to help his father, the ‘Leeds Mercury' had become a great political power in the West Riding, and its influence was manifest throughout the whole country. Even in his youth, the younger Edward Baines did something to extend that influence. The year in which he reported * Peterloo ’ was that in which his first editorial appeared ; and it was one of his articles, some years later, that induced Yorkshire, then an undivided constituency, to send Hy. Brougham to Parliament. In 1834, Mr Baines, sen., was elected member for Leeds, and twice afterwards in succession was the same honour conferred upon him. The management of tho paper had now passed on to the sons. Edward Baines, jun., filled the editorial chair, and with full power in his hands, he threw great energy into the undertaking. Like the father, he gave over thirty years of close work as editor to the ‘ Leeds Mercury,’ and, as was the case also with the father (whd died in 1848) he {only relinquished his editorial duties when he was returned to the House of Commons from Leeds. He, too, served in thiee Parliaments.