[Editor: This column of letters to the editor and news commentary was published in The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 6 November 1919.]
The Inky Way
“Copy Boy”: An Inky Way paragraph (B. 9/10/’09) anent the rapidity with which H. G. Wells and Arnold Bennett turn out novels moves me to mention Jack McLaren, whom Bulletin readers known as “McNorth.” Early this year, McLaren, encouraged by success as a short-story writer, sold his Bananaland copra plantation, returned to his native Melbourne and set to work book-making. In six months he turned out six novels; five have been placed locally and the sixth is on the way to London. He is now at work on two more, presumably typing one with each hand. McLaren’s experiences in the tropics have furnished him with an unlimited supply of plots and characters, and he works systematically turning the raw material into marketable products. Every day he bangs his typewriter for six hours and produces a chapter, so that in a month or less he has finished a book. If he keeps on at the present rate he will have passed Wells’s tally in less than six years.
Australia’s first official war correspondent. Charlie Bean, is to be paid £1200 a year while he is writing the history of the Commonwealth’s share in the great upheaval. The job will take five or six years at least.
“Zoology”: Ever heard the cold scientific facts which underlie the frequent references in English pastoral poetry of the 18th and 10th centuries to the beauty of dairymaids? Until the general introduction of vaccination, practically every person in Europe had smallpox at some time or other, and the only unpocked people were dairymaids. It was this that led to Jenner’s famous discovery of vaccination against small-pox. He discovered that all the pastoral beauties owed their freedom from pock-marks to having contracted cow-pox while milking, and being thereby rendered immune to the other thing.
“The Oldest Inhabitant”: Sydney Town and Country Journal, which died lately of starvation, would have had a jubilee in January next year had it lived. The founder was Samuel Bennett, who had been overseer for the Fairfaxes. With William Hanson, who had been Government Printer, he took over Parkes’s old Empire, which had gone to sleep in August, 1858, and was revived in May, 1859. Bennett established the Evening News in July, 1867, and shut down on the Empire in February, 1874. Thereafter he ran the T. and C. and the Evening News with the help of his three sons, Alfred, Frank and Christopher. The T. and C. had for its country canvasser and correspondent John Henniker Heaton, who in 1873 married Rose, the only daughter of Sam Bennett. When the latter died the estate was divided into five parts, one each to the widow and children. When the widow died Rose got her mother’s share, having thus two-fifths of the whole. On the strength of his marriage Henniker Heaton went to London and got a seat in the Commons as Conservative M.P. for Canterbury. His hobby of postal reform eventually brought him a baronetcy. He died at Geneva at the beginning of the war. His will, proved at under £300, showed whose purse was heaviest in that household.
Adelaide Public Library has acquired from the writer’s son the diary of R. H. Edmunds, who was in charge of an expedition sent by S. A. Government just 55 years ago to the Far North. The Territory had lately been placed under the control of S. Aus., and the first Government Resident, Finniss, was in need of help; even more so was McKinlay, who was exploring in the region. It is a dramatic and little-known bit of Australian history.
“B. W. Rep”: “S.T.S.” on typists’ errors (B. 16/10/’19) induces me to send along the gem of my collection. Dictating a letter about a medicinal preparation, I said that certain aromatics, “in addition to assisting the stomachic action of the cascara, also mask its unpleasant taste.” When I received the letter it read, “In addition to assisting the dramatic action,” etc. That girl knew something!
Source:
The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 6 November 1919, p. 24 (columns 3-4)
Editor’s notes:
anent = about, concerning, as regards, with regard to, in respect to; adjoining, across from, alongside, beside, close to, near; in line with, on a level with
B. = (in the context of the The Bulletin publication) The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW)
Bananaland = Queensland, so-named as a lot of bananas are grown in that state, being located in the tropical north of Australia
Charlie Bean = C. E. W. (Charles Edwin Woodrow) Bean (1879-1968), an Australian journalist, war correspondent, and historian
See: 1) K. S. Inglis, “Bean, Charles Edwin (1879–1968)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “Charles Bean”, Wikipedia
copra = the dried kernel, or meat, of a coconut, from which coconut oil is obtained
Fairfaxes = a family of Australian newspaper proprietors (John Fairfax & Sons Ltd.)
See: 1) J. O. Fairfax, “Fairfax, John (1804–1877)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) Caroline Simpson, “Fairfax, Sir James Reading (1834–1919)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
3) Caroline Simpson, “Fairfax, Sir James Oswald (1863–1928)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
4) Bridget Griffen-Foley, “Fairfax, Sir Warwick Oswald (1901–1987)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
5) Gavin Souter, “Fairfax, John Fitzgerald (1904–1951)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
“Fairfax Media”, Wikipedia
Far North = the northern part of the Northern Territory, also known as the Top End (including Arnhem Land, Darwin, Kakadu National Park, and the Katherine region); can also refer to the whole of the Northern Territory; distinct from: “Far North Queensland”, “Far North” (South Australia)
Finniss = Boyle Travers Finniss (1807-1893), soldier, surveyor, and public servant; he held several public positions, including Colonial Secretary of South Australia, then became the first Premier of South Australia, and was later Government Resident in the Northern Territory; he was born at sea (off the coast of South Africa) in 1807, and died in Kensington Park (South Australia) in 1893
See: 1) “Finniss, Boyle Travers (1807–1893)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “B. T. Finniss”, Wikipedia
Government Resident = a government administrator, sent to a particular area (to live in, to be resident in) to oversee various government functions, and often to act as a Residential Magistrate
Jack McLaren = John (Jack) McLaren (1884-1954), author and poet; he was born in Fitzroy (Melbourne, Vic.) in 1884, and died in Brighton (England) in 1954
See: 1) Cheryl Taylor, “McLaren, John (Jack) (1884–1954)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “Jack McLaren”, Wikipedia
Jenner = Edward Jenner (1749-1823), an English doctor and scientist, who was a pioneer of vaccine treatments, and the creator of the smallpox vaccine
See: 1) Stefan Riedel, “Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination”, PubMed Central
2) “Edward Jenner”, Wikipedia
McKinlay = John McKinlay (1819-1872), grazier and explorer; he was born in Scotland in 1819, and died in Gawler (SA) in 1872
See: 1) “McKinlay, John (1819–1872)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “John McKinlay”, Wikipedia
M.P. = Member of Parliament
Parkes = Sir Henry Parkes (1815-1896), the owner and editor of The Empire newspaper (Sydney), and Premier of New South Wales for five separate terms (1872-1875, 1877, 1878-1883, 1887-1889, 1889-1891)
See: 1) A. W. Martin, “Parkes, Sir Henry (1815–1896)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “Henry Parkes”, Wikipedia
R. H. Edmunds = Robert Henry Edmunds (1834-1917) an explorer of South Australia and the Northern Territory
See: “R. H. Edmunds”, Wikipedia
S. A. = an abbreviation of South Australia (a colony in Australia from 1836, then a state in 1901)
Sam Bennett = Samuel Bennett (1815-1878), journalist and newspaper proprietor, who published The Empire (bought from Henry Parkes), the Evening News, and the Australian Town and Country Journal newspapers (he was born in England in 1815, and died in Sydney in 1878)
See: 1) Merilyn J. Bryce, “Bennett, Samuel (1815–1878)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “Samuel Bennett”, Wikipedia
S. Aus. = an abbreviation of South Australia (a colony in Australia from 1836, then a state in 1901)
T. and C. = the publication, The Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW)
the Territory = the Northern Territory
[Editor: The words “Bulletin”, “Empire”, “Evening News”, “T. and C.” and “Town and Country Journal”, (referring to periodicals) have been put in italics, to distinguish those words from the rest of the text.]
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