OURSELVES.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 403, 14 November 1868, Page 7

OURSELVES.

It is necessary to inflict upon the readers of the Westport Times another announcement relating inoro to private matters than to public affairs. Very recently it was intimated in these columns that the, proprietors of the Times had become the purchasers of the plant with which the evening paper, the Star, had been printed. -It was explained that this arrangement had been rendered necessary in consequence of the serious loss which the publication of two daily papers continued to involve to the proprietors of each, and in consequence of their mutual conviction that the publication of one daily paper, efficiently conducted, was all that was requisite for the interests of the district, and especially for the interests of those to whom the arts of writing and printing are the moans to the end of making that district their home. It was added that, if not hopefully, the proprietors would, at least, earnestly endeavour to make the Times as good a medium of information and of expression of public opinion as it was possible for them to do. There is no doubt that there was sincerity in this earnestness, and that, if circumstances had permitted their intention to be carried out, the public of Westport and its district would have had no reason to complain. But circumstances did not do so ; the competition between the two papers had left even the nominal survivor in a condition, recovery from which was not to be secured by either energy or ability; and a further change, in the hope of its being a change for the better for all concerned, has been made. One of the late proprietors of the Star has re-purchased the plant of that newspaper, and along with it the larger plant with which the Times has been printed; and, with those ample appliances, an effort will be made by him, and by those associated with him, to produce a journal which shall be worthy of Westport, and which, it is to be hoped, shall not fail to receive from the public an amount of support equal to it and those connected with it being, at the very least, " sustained." Under the new proprietory, the Times will be conducted chiefly by those who conducted the Star, while j the practical printing work of the paper will continue under the management of one of the former proprietors of the Times ; and some hope, if not confidence, is felt that the combination will be effectual in producing what those who take any pride or interest in their profession are desirous of producing—an instructive, readable newspaper. After the very full and fair explanation which was given at the time of the last change, of the conditions under which the paper would be carried on, so far as concerns its relations to the advertising public, and to the public generally, it is unnecessary to enlarge upon the intentions of the proprietors towards their patrons, or upon the hopes of their patrons' intentions towards them. It may be sufficient to say that the re-arrange-ment which has been made has been made with no mere intention of securing a monopoly, much less to abuse it. It is simply an honest endeavor to save from further or more serious loss capital which has been invested, and to devote to some good purpose the labor aud experience of years. Alterations which, it is hoped, may he recognised as improvements, will be effected in the style and character of the paper, as soon as time and the arrangement of details will permit of that being clone. In promising this, there is not implied anything but the heartiest recognition of the exertions and the abilities of those who have hitherto conducted the Times. Those who are no wits conductors know, perhaps, even better than the public, the qualifications which their predecessors possessed for the efficient discharge of their professional duties, but they know also, probably better than the public, that the circumstanees under which the newspaper was carried on did not permit of these qualifications being so thoroughly exercised as they would otherwise have been; and it is in the hope that the circumstances will now be more favorable, rather than from any belief in their own capacity, that its present conductors even venture to promise improvement. For the present they only bespeak the exercise, on the part of the public, of those excellent virtues—patience and hope.