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few eminent Q.C.s, some of whom are now living, and occupy seats in the House of Commons, the proceedings of which they were glad to report in early days.

But the most celebrated of all the men who at one time or another took notes in the Gallery is the great novelist to whom we are indebted for the creation of Mr. Pickwick and Little Nell. There are still in the Gallery of the House veterans who remember the days when Charles Dickens sat by their side, as a member of the reporting staff of the 'Morning Chronicle,' which had then the crack corps of the House of Commons. Mr. Dickens has left us not a few reminiscences of his reporting days, some of which have been judiciously embodied by Mr. Forster in his life of the great novelist.

There are many good stories told respecting the Gallery. Many have doubtless heard of the old reporter who, in the midst of a dull debate, suddenly called out for the Speaker to favour the House with a song! Another gentleman, engaged in the House of Lords, having heard one statesman of repute state that another had introduced a bill 'with indecent haste,' headed his report with the words 'Charge of Indecency against Lord

So-and-so;' whilst a third, who had been told that profane language was on no account to be admitted into his reports, once destroyed the effect of one of O'Connell's finest pieces of oratory by printing the word 'damned,' when used in its most legitimate sense, in the form in which it usually appears in our police reports.

OUR SPECIAL WIRE.

A STAID newspaper proprietor of the old schoola representative of the times when advertisements were taxed, the stamp-duty reigned supreme, and fast-flying Hoes were unknown-would be greatly discomfited were he permitted to revisit the glimpses of the moon, and note the changes that have occurred since his day in the department of periodical literature. Change succeeds change so rapidly, that we have not time to reflect upon their significance; and it not unfrequently happens that we are plunged into, and become reconciled to, a state of things which but a short time previous seemed unattainable. Perhaps in no sphere of modern energy is advancement more marked and astonishing than in that of the daily newspaper. The last ten years have created a revolution. The penny paper of to-day is, for size, cheapness, and accuracy of information, as much superior to the bi-weekly sheets of fifteen years

ago, as our railways are to lumbering stage-coaches. The amount of energy, money, enterprise, and intellectual activity, expended every twenty-four hours upon the collection and issue of the current news, is something marvellous.

The most noticeable improvement upon the press of recent years is the large and growing extent to which the electric telegraph is employed as an auxiliary force. The introduction of this element promises in a short time to effect as vast an alteration in the conduct and management of the daily newspaper as has been wrought by the Hoe printing-machine. Even under the present system—and it may be said to be only in its infancy—nothing of importance transpires in the three kingdoms that is not flashed to the great centres of intelligence in the large towns. If an eminent politician make a speech late at night at Manchester, Liverpool, or Bristol, it is reported and transmitted to London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, appearing next morning in the columns of journals hundreds of miles away from the place where it was spoken. If a crime or accident of magnitude occur in any quarter of the empire accessible to the telegraph, the details are carefully collected, written out into a narrative, and sent off on the wings of the lightning. The most enterprising prints in the empire in this respect

are those of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Three of the daily newspapers in the former city, and two in the latter, have what are called 'special wires' for the transmission of important information from London. The compact entered into between the newspaper proprietors and the Government gives to each newspaper the sole and exclusive control of one wire from seven in the evening till three o'clock the following morning. A sum amounting to close upon a thousand pounds per annum is charged for each separate wire, including the services of two clerks to work the instruments. This large outlay merely represents what is paid to the Government, and is exclusive of the expense of collecting the news, with which that corporation has nothing whatever to do.

As a rule, the wires commence work at seven o'clock precisely, and are generally kept going, with slight intermissions, till three in the morning. If the wire be in good working-order, and not affected by accident or the weather, between five and six columns of matter can be transmitted by each wire-no despicable feat, when it is remembered that every line of that large quantity of material has to be written out in manuscript for the use of the printers. But should the weather be stormy, and the electric current be affected, great difficulty

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