INSIDE THE OFFICE OF A GREAT LONDON DAILY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2477, 26 May 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

INSIDE THE OFFICE OF A GREAT LONDON DAILY.

Till comparatively lately, the Times leisurely printed its outer sheet in the course ot the day. Now everything is left to the last moment, wh<m it is forsed ahead at high pressure ; the paper is whirled through the machinery at the rate of more than 70,000 copies per hour. The Times goes to press with the inner sheet at 3.45. and the publication must come to an end at about 5.15 for the vans and carts are waiting by the dozen to gallop off with the packages to the early trains. The paper is always being edited against time ; seven columns and a half may be transmitted by the special wire from Paris, and Paris is connected in its turn with the capitals of Eastern Europe. But the foreign news, which is continually coming in, is only a single item. Reporters may be at work from Cape Wrath to the Land's End, transmitting speeches which must be scrutinized and condensed.

Telegraphs connect the office with the Houae of Parliament. Fast as the Parliaineutiry reports are sent in, they are set up by composing machines, on which the operator deftly plays as on the keys of a cottage piano ; and by pucnmatic tubes the "slips" are transmitted to the printing' room, thus dispensing with hand carrying and labour. All the latest modern improvements are to be found in a self-sufficing establishment. The Times may be said to make everything for itself, except the paper and the ink. When adopted in ISG2, it was decided to execute the engineering on the premises. Now the Times constructs its presses, aud its casting and composing machines as well. Its conductors with their characterunions. And naturally they have had no difficulty in finding skilled workmen, for not only is the pay high and the treatment liberal, but they have led the way in a philantrophical regard for the health and comfort of their dependants. The old newspaper printing offices wore dismal and unwholesomo dons ; and the most that could bo said in their favour was, that the rooms concentrated to the head work of the establishment were little better. Long ago the Times revolutionised all that, and the present offices, rebuilt some fifteen years ago — with bricks, by the way, from Mr Walter's brick-fields at Bearwood, after designs of his own, and under his personal superintendence—are a model cf all the comforts that are attainable under tho circumstances. The conscious sense of perpetual motion and ceaseless unrest cannot bo got rid of ; lights aro gleaming from all the windows, through the river fogs and the small hours; tho solid buildings are shaken by the violent vibratiou of tho iron presses throbbing in the basements; tha warning bolls of the telegraphs are ringing continually ; dispatches and messages, marked "immediate," are perpetually being shot in at the doors Nevertheless, all is made as pleasant as possible for the men at work. Editors and the busy leader-writers are toiling in spacious and comparatively quiet chambers. Compositors are setting up the type in lofty, well-lighted and vfellventilated halls; of course tho reporters are equally well treated ; the busy print-

ing machines are being driven below ground by the cool and clear electric light, in air as wholesome as any in London. And, to all intents and purposes, the premises are a comfortable club. Each man has his own compartment, where he can keep a change of cloth es and boots, with a peg for his hat and overcoat. He can have any refreshment he needs in a spacious refectory, at any hour of the night or morning, the provisions being served him at cost price. No doubt nothing pays better, in the long run, than keeping skilled employees healthful nnd contented. None the less does the Times deserve infinite credit for being the first to break with the sordid old practices and set a generous example of wise liberality.—National Review.