The Penng-a-Tiner.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 1294, 18 September 1873, Page 7

The Penng-a-Tiner.

( •• Chamber^ Journal.") The penny-a-liner and " the special commissioner" occupy two literary extremes in connection with the daily newspaper press of London. The Bpecial commissioner has usually a prolonged duty to fulfil; possibly to follow the fortunes of an army in the field or in a beleaguered fortress, prepared to incur no small hazard, to bear no small amount of privation, for the one object of sending home news to the paper which he represents. Tbe special correspondent is the next in degree ; his duties are less exceptional than those of the special commissioner, but are more frequently and extensively brought into requisition. Then there are the local correspondents, the regular reporters, all engaged in their several ways in providing the sustenance which the editor deals out to the public day by day. But the penny-a-liner is distinct from all these. It is to him we mainly owe our knowledge of the facts that a crazy old man in the back-slums fell down last night; that Mrs. Mahony bit off the nose of Biddy Sullivan ; that the devouring element at the oilman's shop was not extinguished till long after midnight ; that seven men and three boys would inevitably have been drowned but for the gallant exertions of the Royal Humane Society's icemen ; that a railway van ran over a child this morning in the Poultry; that a labourer's wife in Lambeth had four children at a birth, all alive ; that the convict ate heartily and slept uncommonly well, on the night before his execution; that there was such a glut of herrings in the market yesterday, that tbe costermongers went to Billingsgate instead of Covent C-arden — or, in coster lingo, to the " Gate " instead of the "Garden;" that the Claimant was cheered by a crowd when coming out of his solicitor's office ; that a butcher in Clare Market killed a sow weighing an unprecedented I number of stones ; and that the rushing flood, after the heavy rain, entered the living-rooms in Deepdown-street, and washed away the scanty furniture of the affrighted inmates. The penny-a-liner is the hurry-scurry gatherer of Buch items of news, which he dresses up with as much eloquence and sensationalism as he can. He is out at all hours, day and night, searching for information in ways that would baffle the ingenuity of any one else. His professional designation is due to the fact that he and his brethern were originally paid at the rate of one penny per printed line; but it does not follow that his present remuneration is at the same small rate. His work is very precarious. He is not employed by the editor of any newspaper to collect news or write articles; he speculates on his own account, does the work first, and seeks for a customer afterwards — just as a working cabinetmaker, having finished an article of furniture, takes it to a dealer's shop in the hope of selling it. Sometimes, having attended two or more coroners' inquests on the same day, and written an account of each, he fails to obtain publication for even one. and his whole labor falls to the ground. The editor may have his columns quite full, or may deem these particular inquests of small public interest, or may not like the style in which the reports are written : be the reason what it may, his decision is final, and the penny-a-liner finds that his time has been wasted, his pocket left unprovided. He is not bound to any one paper ; he sends to two or more, preparing as many copies as may be needed. If he sends tbe same " Inquest," or the same "Terrible Accident," to four or five morning papers, he hopes that one or ofcber, even if no more than one. will tarn up trumps. He has a chance of being paid four or five times over; for as no editor knows what the others will insert, each decides without reference to tbe others, and all may happen to take the same favorable view at the same time. These are the prizes in the penny-a-liner's lottery ; the blanks turn up when, owing to a pressure of parliamentary or political news, all sorts of scraps, odds and ends, and unimportant paragraphs are ruthlessly swept away at the last moment ; they may have been set up in type or not, but, unlike the work of staff-writers, unless they appear they are not paid for. If he is accurate in his statements of facts, the penny-a-liner may have a fair chance with Mr. Editor; but if otherwise, his subsequent contributions stand a poor chance of insertion. As to style of writing, irrespective of truth of narrative, that is an affair which each " liner" decides for himself. If he thinks he can do a little in the forcible or elegant manner, he tries it on; if he is well up in phrases of sympathy with' suffering humanity, he believes that he could produce a very movingr account of any "distressing calamity ;" if «he can induce his soul to rise to lofty indignation at the oppression of the helpless, he could produce half a column of agony relating to the barbarous way in which a father has deserted' his poor children. He soon finds out whether any particular editor likes those varieties of fine writing, and he shapes his course accordingly. Sometimes a "liner" has « run of luck. There is on record a case of a murder and inquest in London which excited an extraordinary < amount of interest, The inquiry was;

prolonged for ten days ; the report of each day's proceedings occupied from two to three columns ; and the same "liner" bad tbe good fortune to see his own particular reports used in six morning papers, though doctered or curtailed in any way that the respective) editors thought proper. Mr. Grant, in his recent history of the newspaper press, mentions a case in 1 which,, as editor 6f the " Morning' Advertiser,*' he inserted ten articles of three columns each relating to the inquest on the bodies of persons killed by accident on tibe Brighton Railway. They were prepared by three "liners," who agreed to act in partnership ; the reports were accepted by and inserted in six morning papers ; and the pay. ment netted by the triumviri was really very handsome. It is more than hinted that some of the "liners" accept gratuities occasionally, aj3 an inducement to the suppression of reports which would be painful ar discreditable to individuals and families. The editors of different papers are quite aware that the same report of the same occurrence is sent to many or all of them. In fact 'it is only through the aid of the" liners " that they can obtain speedy news of unforeseen minor events. No writer of higher standing would consent to tramp about the town at all hours, looking, like Mr. Micawber. for something or other to " turn up." The editor cannot afford to disregard small local occurrences ; they are much in favor with insatiable newspaper readers, and he must obtain accounts of them from the " liners," if at all. News spoils sooner than the most delicate fish ; it must be ready at once, or it is valueless in the eyes of the editor. Hence, if the information be both prompt and reliable, he does not reject it merely because other editors have been supplied with the same narrative from the same " liner ;" he uses just as much of it as suits him, and pays for what he uses. The "liner" does not take the trouble to write out as many copies as there are newspapers to which he intends to send his communication ; he makes use of a cheap and convenient " manifold." He interleaves (say) six sheets of a peculiar kind of paper, known to the fraternity as " flimsy," with an equal number of sheets of blackened paper; he writes with an ivory style or blunt point on the uppermost Bbeet ; and the pressure employed is sufficient to cause each sheet of flimsy to take up its due dose of black, which thus serves fcr ink. It happens that the number of London morning papers to which these communications are sent is just about equal to the number of copies which the writer can " manifold " a$ once : the black transfer being too faint on any below the sixth. Mr. Grant tell us that, although the editors wish for promptness and accuracy rather than fine writing, they nevertheless require a certain artistic mode^G/f beginning an article ; something* that will catch the eye and whet the curiosity of the reader. This, it might be true enough that " Last evening a case of suicide occurred at No. 35 Blank Street, Islington,' &c, &c. ; but the "liner" is tempted, both by the hope of a few extra pence for a few extra lines, and by a wish to attract by liveliness, to commence somewhat as follows : " Last evening the whole, of the neighbourhood of Blank Street, Islington, was thrown into a state of the utmost consternation in consequence of its having transpired that one of the most desperate cases of suicide ever known had occurred in No 35 of that street. The particulars of this deplorable tragedy bave been furnished to us, and are as follows ; " &c, &c. Some liners bend their energies so resolutely to the literature of dreadful fires, that their contributions are looked forward to as a matter of course. One of the fraternity hired a room over a fire-engine station, and made an arrangement with the firemen that, they should wake him when any fire broke out He would hurry on a few clothes, mount the engine by tbe side of tbe driver, and get to the scene of conflagration lpng before any other liner. The editors of the morning papers, hearing of his assiduity, tacitly agreed to give him the preference, and* he be- | came the acknowledged king of Awful Conflagrations." He kept plenty of "manifold" always ready, full of the agony and sensational language usual in such narratives, leaving; blanks for putting in the prosaic facts; and thus the greater portion of the description of a fire would be written before the fire broke out. How the narratives are dressed up by the time the newspaper is issued, readers know too well to need be reminded ; but it would be difficult for an English "liner " to surpass the following transatlantic bit : "About this instant of time the rear wall of the back edifice came down clash, with a stunning crash which shook 'allTSatar' in the neighbourhood • and the fire.fiend, grinning with malignant glee, kicked his heels, about the rear portion of the stores and clerks' offices adjoining the deflagrating structures." Sometimes penny-a-liners, by union and promptness combined, achieve results analogous in a humble way to those of a skilful i tactician in war. Several years ago, when Lord John Manners was a candidate at a Colchester election, considerable political interest was felt in the matter ; and all the London mornin? journals, save one, sent down special reporters to do,

ample justice to a speech he was expected to make. On the . following morning only one London newspaper gave a report of the speech, and that was one. which bad not Bent a reporter. Triumph in one, vexation in all the Others, led to inquiry, which j elicited the following explanation. First : , the failure of the reporters. Lord John began bib speech at so late an hour in the evening that it was only half finished when the last train started from Colchester to London ; the reporters all agreed that the fragment which they could send would be hardly worth the trouble ; they waited to hear and report the entire speech, and brought or sent their well-written reports to London the following day. Secondly : the success of the " liners." Two of them agreed to go down to Colchester "on spec." with a' hope that the lateness of the speech-making would baffle the regular reporters. They obtained free press railway passes ; *and they had only forty minutes available at Colchester before the starting of the last train. One of them went in search of, and obtained, ' a copy of an Address to the Electors, just then issued by Lord John's Com- ! mittee , while the other went to the town- hall, got the names of some of the notabilities present, scanned the general state of matters in the hall, and heard the beginning of Lord John's speech. The two met at the station at the proper time, got into the guard's van (by previous arrangement), and then set to work by lamp- J light. One, assuming that Lord John would do little more than repeat the substance of his address in his ! speech, made up a speech accordingly, using many vague but high-sounding phrases, without venturing on precise facts or statements. The other was able to introduce the speech with the usual mode of treatment about the hall, the meeting, the persons present, the enthusiastic cheers, and so forth. It was finished in the van, taken to the editor of one paper, and by him eagerly inserted. The report was much shorter than those which appeared in the other papers. on the following day; but it was admitted to be a very clever affair, far above the usual lsvel of the penny-a-lining. Another instance was still more remarkable, as illustrative at once of the ingenuity and the audacity sometimes displayed by individual members of the body. When the Duke of Wellington was prime- minister, one of the morning newspapers gave the programme of a very important government proceeding about to be adopted. It startled all parties, and created an immense sensation among the Tories ; for that political party had received no information that the cabinet intended any such move ; nay, the majority of the cabinet ministers themselves were equally in the dark ; and yet the announcement was true. The Duke wae full of wrath at the premature display of his plans, and equally full of surprise, seeing that those plans btad~ not been committed to paper. The clue to the mystery was after a time obtained. The Duke of Wellington was rather deaf during the second half of his life, and (as is usually the case under such circumstances) adopted a somewhat loud tone in conversation. One evening, after a stirring debate in the House of Lords, the Duke walked home arm in arm with another peer, a trusted member of the Government. In the course of conversation he gave the outline of a scheme which he had determined to put into effect, but of which he had said nothing to his colleagues in the cabinet. A penny-a-liner happened to be outside the House of Lords. He caught some words from the lips of the loud-talk-ing Duke, saw at once they bore an important relation to the existing politics of the day, and resolved to attempt a neat thing in the way of business. Laying aside honour and delicacy as troublesome companions, he followed the two peers at a cautiouß distance, and picked up the loud words as they fell upon his ear. The night was dark, the tread of his steps was made soft for tbe occasion, and he escaped detection during a long portion of the Duke's walk to Apsley House. Returning to his lodgings, the " liner " got up an account of the momentous policy intended by the noble Duke at the head of His Majesty's government, written in e the proper newspaper style. Knowing that none of the papers would place trust in any flimsy from a " liner " if sent in the usual way, on a subject so peculiarly special and momentous as this, he adopted another plan. Mr. Black, editor of the " Morning Chronicle," had that day given a " leader " iof his own, in which the Duke was severely handled for refusing to make known his plans in the House of Lords. The "liner" went to Mr. Black, handed, him the article he had prepared, and, on beiug pressed, candidly avowed the manoeuvre he had adopted. The temptation was boo great to be resisted; Mr. Black accepted the "liner's" article, paid for it handsomely, and inserted it next morning as a doubleleaded leading article. The effect was immense. Tbe conductors of the other papers were surprised and vexed at being thus forestalled by the " Morning Chronicle ;" the Whigs were elated at the disclosures thus, made ;. the Tories were mortified at having been thus kept in the dark by the ministers of their choice ; the Duke's colleagues in the cabinet were something more than .mortified' 'at -hiving 1 - been ' deeraetl

equally unworthy of his trust; and the clubs discussed the affair day after day. Many influential members of parliament called upon Mr^ William Clements, principal proprietor of the '' Morning Chronicle," and asked him to tell them "in confidence " how the information was obtained ; but, until the article had produced its full effect, in relation to the party politics of the day, Mr. Black would not tell even his own employer the history of the secret. As the Duke had not committed his plan to paper, and had communicated it orally only to his friend the peer, his suspicions lighted in that quarter. Mr. Grant states that it has come within his personal knowledge, as editor, that a " liner " would — aided by a few friends — get up a so-called public meeting, in order to earn a little money by reporting the speeches : perhaps only eight or ten persons were present, but they all spoke, and the speaking supplied him with mate-, rials for a report of respectable length. One " liner " has been known for his dexterity in getting up deputations to the prime-minister, or some other member of the government, on some real or fancied grievance ; as the other " liners " knew nothing about it beforehand, he had the field all to himself; and his report of the interview had a chance of insertion in three or four different papers on the following morning. But making allowance for occasional queer modes of obtaining or inventing news, the " penny-a-liners " are a class whom the public could ill spare. The regular reporters cannot be everywhere at critical moments ; they report in accordance with previous arrangements with the editor, and are by no means in a position to hunt up tbe sudden news which is so much sought for in the papers. The " liner " does this, and works hard at his vocation.