Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/620

 594 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY ■Y^e Reguter keynote of the modest, independent, and manly editorial. A newspaper editor is human, and only once or twice — notably in 1842, when Governor Grey was pursuintr his career of retrenchment — was there a suspicion of personal feeling. There was in this second number of the paper nothing inconsistent with the professions of the editor, and, although the little community was already rent asunder by personal squabbles, the succeeding columns are free of bias and of all signs of party influence. There were six pages in the newspaper, and all of them full of local matter. Mr. Stevenson and the members of the Thomas family were the contributors - indeed, the latter were as versatile in accomplishments as a modern goldfield s camp editor. Were it possible to do so within a reasonable compass, it would be interesting to recount in detail the gradual development of the paper. journeyman printer in a new settlement is almost proverbially irregular in his habits. During the infant struggles of a colonial newspaper one or two printers have been the supreme factors. The staff is small, and publication is dependent on its tender mercies. Literary contributors can be found without much trouble, but in an infantile settlement an experienced compositor is a rarity ; and his movements are apt to be somewhat eccentric. These peculiarities chiefly explain the precarious and spasmodic publication of the paper in its earlier days. The intention was to issue it weekly; but during 1S37 the numbers appeared at such intervals as June 3, July 8, July 29, August 12, .September 16, October 4, October 19, and November 11. The editor is reported to have thus indignantly delivered himself on the last-mentioned date : — " The late appearance of the Reoister has been occasioned by the misconduct of a journeyman printer, who has thought [)roper to desert his employment at a moment when engaged in making-up or arranging the types for the present number. There are a certain set who have not scorned to tamper in a most scandalous manner with our printer's .servant, but if they have succeeded in enticing him away from his duty they will not escape the exposure which awaits them for their pitiful and disgraceful conduct." After this number there was a long gap, and again an " ill - conditioned journeyman" is blamed. The next issue was printed on January 6, 1838, with the assistance of Mr. William Kyfifin Thomas (then only 16 years old), who afterwards had a lengthened and honorable association with the paper. In 1839, several compositors having arrived from England, the Register became a weekly paper in fact as well as in name, the day of publication being .Saturday. In April, 1840, the plant and copyright of another local jjaper — the Adelaide Chronicle — were incorporated with the Register. The people of South Australia, as well as the financial affairs of the Province, were just entering upon the most exciting jihase of their history. Through a concatenation of circumstances, Governor Gawler had, with the very Ijest intentions, succeeded in precipitating a " boom," and this, like modern episodes of the kind, had its re-action. Governor Gawler was superseded by Governor Grey when the Province was on the verge of bankruptcy, the Colonising Commissioners and the Imperial Government having refused to honor the bills of Colonel Gawler. In obedience to instructions, and as the outcome of his own investigations and views. Governor Grey proceeded to retrench with an unsparing hand, The process was a bitter one to colonists, and naturally excited their opposition becau.se it temporarily ruined thousands