THE WAIMAT ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, AUG. 27, 1898.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Issue 14, 27 August 1898, Page 3

THE WAIMAT ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, AUG. 27, 1898.

As we promised in our last issue, we are going to touch upon what has formed the Bubject matter of much correspondence in the Waimate Times, i.e., who were the promoters and what were the reasons for starting the Waimate Advertiser. It has been announced that the promoters were three leading Prohibitionists in town ) the inference being that the paper was to ba devoted entirely to the Prohibition movement, and so damage it in the eyes of those who are opposed to that movement. It was insinuated by the Times in confirmation of this that the plant was bought by these gentlemen, and was at the present time worked " in a shed in Mr Bannerman's garden." If this were true, does it constitute them " patrons and pro, mot'era." Does Matthew Smith consider the Wilson Bros., owners of the plant he uses, " patrons and promoters." We cannot all rent an established business, and we must in the words of the old saying, " creep before we walk." We hope, however, that we will never be truthfully accused of crawling before we get work. The editor of the Times calls this paper a " Suclding," but we are thankful that it cannot be called a " Sucker." Now, as to the start of this business. Not Messrs Bannerman, Brown, and Dash started it, but a boy, who had served four years and nine months in Matthew Smith's office, and who was sick and tired of his system ojf employing boy labour, sick of working. 16, 17, 18, and 20 hours, at a stretch, twice a Veek, 'without any overtime pay ;

and sick of working overtime through press of job work, of which the Time's leasee got the benefit. "We hear a great deal about " sweating " in these days, and would like to know by what name the people of Waimate call the state of things pointed to above. The plant which now is used for the Advertiser office was bought and placed in the " shed " mentioned, but it was not for nine months after that the present tenant rented it as a job printing office on April 11th. The Waimate Advertiser was started on May 28th. It is true that we started in a shed 10ft. x Bft., this lean-to being unlined and only 7ft. high at the front. And what plant did we possess. A very small press, a, pair of cases of body type, one line of jobbing type, one pound weight of metal furniture, a small stock of billheads and paper and cards, a few home-made printing necessaries we did not see our way to purchase, and a small amount of perseverance. Here, for three months, without any means of heating the "shed," two boys of 20 and 16 respectively, edited, reported for, businessmanaged, printed the paper and did the job printing, and managed to improve their plant, till at the present time it is as complete as can be wished for. We do not want to appear egotistic, but we point to this with pride. Can the editor of the Times say that he has succeeded as well, even without having to flight against such odds. Such a brave spirit he evinces by his mud slinging and trying by every means in his power to ruin us. But while there is enough support given to us to pay our employees a fair wage', so long will the Advertiser stand. Does the Times editor know that W. and R. Chambers, the now world-renowned publishers (when #till boys) started as printers in an old house in Edinburgh, using the hearth for an imposing stone. We had no hearth-stone, and had perforce to use the carriage of the press. And his reference to the " so-called leaders." Because all his leaders are written by a certain man down south, is that to say that no one in the world is capable of writing an article. We beg the Times editor's " pardon. We have a vivid recollection of setting a " leader " of his dealing with the assault by a patient on the steward in the Waimate Hospital. After about a column of twaddle, of iteration and re-iteration, he wound up as follows : — Some will agree with Dr , and some will agree Dr , but all will agree that the unfortunate men and are deserving of the utmost sympathy." Precisely, but

what a masterpiece of logic. The whole trouble, of course, originated only " when it was a question of spending ratepayers' money." The Times might well have added the words "on anyone else but Matthew Smith." What does he care about the ratepayers ? Not a rap. What has he done for them during the twelve years he has " edited " the Times ? He" never did anything else than hedge between two opinions. He liked to please both sides, and as a consequence pleased nobody. The Adyertisek has always had twice the circulation of the Times, sometimes four times the amount. Even with our paid issue, subscriptions to date largely exceed the Times' number, and we have done scarcely any canvassing as yet. If the special meeting in regard to the water supply had been advertised in this paper we feel safe in saying that there would have been many more present. It is time something was done in the matter of a " respectably conducted " paper for Waimate, and by the time Jhia paper has had half a dozen years continuous support, it hopes to make a better show, and have more influence in the district than that invertebrate nonentity, the Waimate Times.