Waiouru paper given nod

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 228, 26 January 1988, Page 16

Waiouru paper given nod

The Waiouru army community won't be getting its Empty Page back. At least not in the foreseeable future. That's the word from Camp Commander Colonel Bret Bestic. Calls for reinstatement of the community's weekly news-sheet have been turned down following an official referendum. Last year the Empty Page — a roughly produced but very popular news-sheet published weekly and circulated to Waiouru's 600-odd homes — was stopped. This followed launching of a weekly tabloid newspapcr, The Desert Express, by local businessman Mr Murray Fitchett 10 months ago. The Express has continued as a weekly and although it has dropped to four pages in recent wecks, Mr Fitchett says it will be back to a healthier eight pages next week. Colonel Bestick's announcement that the old news-sheet will not be brought back met with a disinterested response from Mr Fitchett. "It doesn't worry me either way to be honest," he told the Dulletin yesterday. "The future of the Empty Page was entirely up to them (the Army) anyway," he said. "My newspaper had already got along okay when the Empty Page was going." Since the Express took over the role of the newssheet there have been calls wilhin the Waiouru community for a return of the old publication, which had become something of an institution in the camp after almost 20 years of publication. So in late November Colonel Bestic commissioned an official poll. Eight hundred question-

naires were distributed to householders. A total of 263 replies were received — or 33 per cent, which by conventional survey standards is considered good. Of those 197 or 75 per cent wanted the Empty Page resurrected, 51, or 19 per cent were "against it and 15, or 6 per cent were uncertain. Colonel Bestic said that although he was pleased with the number of responses, those favouring the proposition still represented only 25 per cent of those polled. In his view this was "insufficient to warrant its reintroduction". Many comments by respondents had been helpful. In particular comments ' about layout and unreliable delivery of the Express had been passed to the publisher. The Express does not charge for public notices and has minimal rates for advertisements. Colonel Bestic concluded: "With 75 per cent of respondents either not wanting the Empty Page back or having no opinion on the matter, there is no justification in returning to two ne;wspapers. Unless circumstances change the Empty Page will not be reintroduced." In the past the actual cost of production of the Empty Page had reached as much as $1000 per issue. These funds have now been channellcd into other community projects. Colonel Bestic told the Bulletin his primary requirement as unofficial "mayor" of the Waiouru community was a news service that enabled the Army to communicate to local people. The Desert Express met this need very well. It is believed the idea of a

non-Army publication serving Waiouru was first mooted in 1978 by a royal commission which recommended that a more conventional community newspaper was warranted.