The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-07 00:00:00

NEWSPAPER PRESS OF AUSTRALIA.

(From the Sydney Empire of Sept. 20.)
It has often been a matter of surprise to us to
find how little even men of business knew of the
costly operations of a Daily Newspaper Office. Our
intercourse with the large body of the public who
are the constant readers of our own journal, when
occasions have arisen for explanation on points pewit
taming to our business arrangements, have, in al-
most every instance, impressed the fact afresh upon
our minds. When we use this word " costly," we
desire to be understood in a more extended sense
than the mere money idea of the word would im-
ply, and to indicate by it the constant and impera-
tive demands upon the time, the mental effort, and
the physical endurance, as well as the capital, of
those engaged in the business of a large diurnal
publication. Many a time, after a sleepless night
of labour and anxiety, when it has tasked the
utmost strength of every man on our establishment
to complete the publication, it has been our for-
tune to receive a polite note from some subscriber
residing, perhaps, at a distance of two or three
miles from our office, complaining that " the paper
was not delivered in suificient time for the break-
fast table," and informing us that " though he
admired our independence, and agreed with our
politics, if he could not have our leading articles
with his toast and coffee he must give us up alto-
gether." We have often thought, whilst we have
striven to our utmost to meet his wishes, that our
friend would have been a little more considerate in
his reproof, if he could have known that, during
his comfortable slumbers, nearly half a ton weight
of type had been picked up in separate pieces, each
smaller than the blade of his penknife, and accu-
rately arranged in ens mass, so as to give the im-
pression of the varied intelligence which he re-
ceived on our printed sheet in the morning—that
this was not the performance of one night, but of
every night throughout the year. Even then, this
idea of a crowd of anxious•faced men, in a close
room, the atmosphere of which is heated with
burning gas, patiently and silently plying their
high handicraft through the " lone watches of the
night," would only supply a faint picture of
the living reality. The toil of brain which
the over-taxed reporter endures at the mid-
night lamp—the unsleeping vigilance of the
all but übiquitous news-collector—the never-ending
editorial superintendence—the whole organism and
vast ramifications of the established system, and
the magnitude of the daily expenditure necessary
to sustain it, are things which, happily for them-
selves, our readers cannot realise. In announcing
the alteration in price which the daily journals in
Sydney and Melbourne have found it absolutely
necessary to make, one of our southern contempo-
raries, the Argus, has just published some particu-
lars of its own current expenditure, which will
serve to illustrate the truth we have ventured to
assert—that the public at large have no adequate
conception of the extensive machinery required to
produce the daily newspaper. The expenses of the
Argus are stated to amount to 3001. a-day, of
which, 27,0001. per annum is set down for com-
positors' wages, 12,0001. per annum for engineers'
wages and wear and tear of machinery, 5,0001. per
annum for the delivery of newspapers, 2,5001. per
annum for expenses of the shipping department.
10,0001. per annum for salaries of reporters and
payment for political writers, and 30,0001. per
annum for printing paper.
To return to ourselves, we think we may feel
justly proud of the position which The Empire, in
the brief period of three years and a half, has
I secured for itself among the journals of Australia.
By theesompletion of extensive alterations for the
enlarged issue which have been going on during
several months past, and the erection of steam
machinery which is now in full operation, we shat
henceforth have at our command every mechanical
facility, while no exertion will be spared to raise
the character of The Empire still higher as a
political and commercial journal. The irregulari-
ties in many departments of our establishment
which hitherto have existed in spite of all our
efforts, and which, perhaps, are inseparable from
all now undertakings of similar magnitude, are, we
trust, about to be brought to an end ; and as that
steady support which we have received from the
first still extends, it shall still be our constant aim
to increase our means of serving the public. It is,
therefore, with fresh plans already forming for the
extension of our future operations that we an-
nounce to our readers that The Empire is now
printed by steam.