The commonwealth., 1914-11-12
OLD LONDON JOURNAL
GAZETTE is MOST VENERABLE
BRITISH NEWSPAPER.
Publication Has for Two Hundred and
Fifty Years Officially chrohicied
the History Of tho island
Empire.

N1ooern newspaper enterprise has
somewhat dwarfed the Importance of
the London Gazette, Britain's Oldest
newspaper, which for 25O years has
officially chronicled the history of the
country. Today it is practically only
used for such announcements as the
kings birthday honors list and legal
notices. Time WAS, however, when the
Gazette was the only medium through
which the public could learn any for
eign news or any public announcement
which royalty and statesmen had TO
make.
Nowadays such announcements.
while being sent to the London Ga
zette, are simultaneously communi-
Gated to the more important newspa.
pers. But even today the London Ga
zette Is controlled by the government,
and particularly watchful eye is kept
on the advertisements in its pages,
which are regulated by law. These
advertisements are mostly of an official
or legal character, of which it is nee
essary to keep record, and earn for
the nation about 100000 a year. No
in It's pages, even though he were will
ing to pay $4,000 line for it. Alto
gether, the Gazette yields the country
profit OF about 100000 a year, al
though practically the only people
who buy it are government officials
and lawyers.
One of the most curious facts regard.
ing the London Gazette is that while IL
Is Britain's oldest newspaper, it is also
one of the youngest, in the sense that
1t was not until 1908 that it was regis
tered at the general post office for
transmission by inland post as a
newspaper. Previously it had been re-
garded as a government publication
only, and was dispatched 20. H. M.
SIN this way escaping postal
charges altogether. But apparently the
government saw way to reap few
extra halfpence by having 1t regis
tered.
The Gazette varies in size very con-
siderably. Sometimes it consists mere
| ly of one page, and sometimes of be-
tween four and five hundred, but the
price always remains the same, viz,
one shilling. There was one memor-
able week in 1847, which was known
as the Railway Year." when so many
lished that the Gazette for the week
totaled about three thousand pages.
One of the most interesting numbers
Of the Gazette ever published was the
Diamond Jubilee number, the whole
paper being devoted to an official rec
ord of that historic celebration.
AS an illustration of the importance
of the Gazette in the old days, it
might be mentioned that as recently
as the Crimean war the Gazette was
the first to publish that important item
Of news, the victory Of Alma. At one
time the London newspapers had to
wait for the publication of the Gazette
in order to secure such news of public
importance as the list OF casualties
which the war Office in those days sent
| direct to Fleet street.
| It is the proud boast of Messrs
Harrison, who for more than one hun
dred and thirty years published the
London Gazette, that although kings
and cabinet ministers contributed tc
it's pages during the time they pub
lished the paper, and although thou
sands of employees were engaged on
the work Of producing the Gazette, nc
official secrets sent to them for publ
cation have ever leaked out.
| The Gazette is probably the only pa
per which returns the original copy tc
it's authors along with the proof. This
is done in the case Of communications
from sovereigns and cabinet ministers