The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-16

the members Of a reporting corps or eyndi-
cate who assisted in writing the long re-
ports OF the Parliamentary speeches for a
series OF newspapers that pooled the cost.
But in the lapse of years n the general
reduction OF verbatim reporting IN the
British newspapers the syndicate broke
up and vanished. The big provincial
daily paper whose second ticket was used
by a member of THE vanished syndicate
was unable to find whittier it had gone
and at the beginning Of each new session,
as the editor has not been able TO return
the lost ticket, he has not been able to
renew il.
But some one has renewed it at various
times as the years have rolled on and It
is now a matter OF great doubt whether
the second ticket OF the big paper in ques-
zion is being used or not, and II so by what
other paper or individual. Meanwhile
the paper has to content itself with one
ticket instead of the two that were allotted
to 1t years ago.
A typical example OF the ARCHAIC condition
OF the official mind at Westminster, show
ing the curious state OF make believe pre-
vailing there, is shown In the case o. the
now defupct North British Daily Mail. This
paper was published in Glasgow.
The proprietor of a flouTishing half
penny paper in Glasgow. the Daily Record,
was unable to get the sergeant at arms to
In the course of time he bought the dying
with his Glasgow paper. The Daily Record,
which was a live paper, put the title of the
dead North British Daily Mad under its
own as a subtitle and sailed triumpllantly
into the press gallery Of the British Parlia-
ment on the ticket OF the dead Journal
Son Of the anomalies are humorously
reminiscent Of the state Of the electoral
divisions before the great Reform act.
Little places that had dwindled to the status
Of decaying villages had the right 70 send a
member or two to Parliament, while Bir-
mingham, humming with the toll OF myriad
workers and having become a great national
centre of manufacture, had none.
In the same way at the present time
Aberdeen, with only 1853 ia inhabitants
and with sparsely peopled highlands around
it, has the representatives of two ofits daily
papers admitted by the sergeant at arms;
but Sheffield, the great mandatory OF tine
world famous Sheffield steel, with $50, III
inhabitants and situated in the centre Of a
vast industrial district peopled by millions,
can only get one paper admitted.
The Sheffield Daily. Telegraph. one Of
the chief papers Of Britain outside OF Lon
don, enjoys the Use of only one ticket; the
Sheffield Independent, the other daily paper
of that city, cannot get a ticket of It's WI
for the gallery for love OF money. Yet the
Aberdeen Free Press has the benefit of two
tickets. and the Dundee Courier, circulating
in a town small indeed compared with
Sheffield, has two tickets. Irony Of an
tiquity-it Uses only one Of its two tickets.
1t does not need the other.
This is not the worst! week or two ago
a journalist who acts as London CORE
spondent OF an important provincial daily
paper received from the editor OF another
paper a communication to the following
effect:
AS you know, Mr.. -, we are in low
water and our circulation and advertise
ments have dwindled TO a low ehb and we
cannot afford to pay either a press gallery
reporter or a Parliamentary lobby CORE
spondent. But we hold from the sergeant
both a gallery ticket and the entr6e
10 the Parliamentary lobby. So | beg to
ask you whether, in order hat we may con-
allow us TO put down your name as our
gallery and lobby representative: We
could not pay you any salary, but we should
not require you to do any work. All we
want is TO be allowed TO put you down as
our man, in order to avoid letting our rights
through misrepresentation"
Thu a decaying and unimportant pager
could hold its place in a tiny gallery less
than half the size required for the accom-
of proper representatives Of the
most eloquent arguments for a complete
Of the arrangements.
The sergeant at arms has long been known
as the mar sitting at the counting house desk
with his little candle, ignoring the progress
of the outside world. trying to do the bust
itpo 70 sHc "."' - SNNN Ni MY |
up to the existence of the telephone,
the telegraph wire. the electric light or even
the railway train, He seems unable 10
grasp the fact that in the last dozen years
the whole face of British journalism has
changed, and the sergeant at arms, serene
in the wainscoted walls of his big. gray
residence in the precincts Of Our
Palace Of Westminster" has failed to
notice it.
He has no cognizance Of modern life.
He is dimly aware of the dropping by many
papers of the old system, of publishing ten,
fifteen or twenty columns of wearisome par
liamentary speeches every day and OF CIV
ing the public in it's place a lively picture
fun OF the human comedy that nightly plays
itself out in the stately halls of the Mother
Of ~Parliaments. He is understood TO be
family impatient even of this.
No representative Of a foreign journal
ever obtained entree to the press
OF he House of Commons. nor can
one gain entrance to the lobby. Reports
Of parliamentary proceedings published by
European and American press are all
from English sources, with the rare eScep-
when a foreign correspondent obtains
admission TO the Strangers Gallery for
special occasion.