CHALLENGE!

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3143, 22 March 1909, Page 4

CHALLENGE!

A CHANCE FOR THE MASTER-

TON HOSPITAL.

It will be generally recognised that circulation is an important factor in the business of a newspaper. This being so, it is not an uncommon practice for newspapers to print in a conspicuous place and in large type some statement in reference to circulation, and as we are absolutely satisfied that the circulation of the Wairarapa Age is considerably in excess of that of any other newspaper published in the Wairarapa, on Saturday morning last, we printed on our front page the statement "guaranteed largest circulation of any paper published in the district." On Saturday afternoon our evening contemporary altered on its title pageone or two little commendatory lines, which it has been in the habit of publishing about itself, and printed a similar statement to that which we had made in the morning (viz)., "guaranteed largest circulation qf any paper published Jin the district." We might comment upon the fact that it is a little curious that it never occurred to our local contemporary, which has been published for some years past, to make such a statement before, and there are several other little matters to which we might draw attention, if it was our intention to be either petty orpersonal. In the past we have been very faithfully copied by our conf temporary in several respects, and although we quite appreciate the truth of the saying that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, at the same time, it must be admitted that it is sometimes pussible to carry even a good principle a little too far. Therefore, our local contemporary having, figuratively speaking, passed the Rubicon, it becomes a duty that we owe to ourselves, and the advertising public not to allow it to recross the stream unless it can do so with honour. In brief, the action of our contemporary, to which we have j referred, is an indirect contradiction (to put the position most mildly) of our statement that the Wairarapa Age has a larger circulation than any other paper published in the Wairarapa. We, therefore, state publicly that we are anxious that a competent accountant should make an investigation into the circulation of each of the Masterton papers, for the purpose 6f publishing a sworn statement as to which paper has the largest circulation, and by what percentage the circulation of the one exceeds that of the other. If our contemporary w ill agree to such aproposition we will donate the sum of £lO to the Masterton Hospital. The Government subsidy on donations is 24s in the £, consequently our contemporary has only to agree to what is a manifestly fair proposal and the Hospital funds will be the better off by £22. It should be noted that we do not ask our local contemporary to disclose any of the details of its circulation,neither does our proposition render it liable to the loss of a single penny; we only ask it to defend its reputation, and in consideration of its doing so, we will ../' donate £lO to the Masterton Hospital. We do not think that any proposition could possibly be more fair, or more completely straightforward.