LINK WITH THE EARLY DAYS Chat with a Veteran Machinist
The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954) Saturday 5 July 1924 Supplement: Special Supplement to The Mercury p 15 Article Illustrated
LINK WITH THE EARLY
DAYS
Chat with a Veteran Machinist If a man is as old as he feels, Mr. Thomas Fletcher Jones has not yet topped the half century. But for his excellent memory for the events of over 70 years ago he would even be disposed to doubt the accuracy of the entry in the front of the old Family Bible, which shows him to have been 86 last April.
MR. T. JONES.
The Veteran Machinist, who saw 59 years of service with "The Mercury" from the year 1854 It is a far call back to the days when Mr. Jones, now 86, but feeling 50, rosy of cheek, and fit as the proverbial fiddle, entered tie employ of "The Mercury" a month after the journal commenced to appear twice a
week, and remained on the mechanical staff for years. He accompanied the paper through the many trying periods it experienced in the early days, saw the application to the paper business of every new and wonduful device, and watched the developments
which took place on all sides, transforming
the production from an unpretentious sheet
to the modem newspaper.
A STRIKING CONTRAST
Mr Jones is an interesting person with whom to have a chat. His outlook is as rich as ever it was, and he talks thoughtfully without becoming over reminiscent In his own quiet way, he can paint quite a vivid word
picture of the days when Hobart was in its cradle He talks, too, of the times, 70 years ago when "The Mercury" first saw the light of day, how, in a little room so low that he could scarcely stand upright, four men, working with a small hand press, produced, one by one, copies of the paper from the
formes of hand-set type. The circulation then
was in the vicinity of 500, and the time occupied in printing this number was approximately two hours. Having printed the paper, three of the four men engaged would proceed to deliver them! When it is considered that the Hoe press which now prints "The Mercury" is capable of turning out 48,000 an
hour, the contrast is rather marked.
"I used to do the rolling," Mr. Jones told an interviewer, "and 250 papers an hour was good work. Later, Mr. John Davies bought a double-cylinder machine. The "Cornwall Chronicle" at Launceston was getting one from England, and for some reason or other two of thom were shipped. The second was sent to Hobart. None of us knew anything about it, and it took us two or three months
to erect it and get it in operation. The tapes gave most of the trouble. This machine was worked by hand at first, but later an engine was bought. All the other men who worked with me in the early days have gone, with the exception of Mr. W. J. Mcwilliams, who is still going strong at the office. Mr. George Rex was the foreman, and Mr. Richard Norton the overseer. There was also a Mr.
Smallhorn."
FIRST APPRENTICE.
It was this veteran, who, in 1817, printed the first issue of "The Tasmanian Mail."
There is a reminder of this fact in the composing room of "The Mercury" now in the form of a photograph of Mr. Jones, and with it this extract from an old issue of the "Critic":
The oldest printer in Tasmania is Mr. Thomas F. Jones, who retired from the press-room a few years ago. Born so far back as 1838, he was indentured for four years on December 4, 1854, to Mr. John
Davies, as an outdoor apprentice. Tom Jones, as he is affectionately called, was the first apprentice bound to the founder of "The Mercury." The apprenticeship was completed on Saturday,
December 11, 1858, a memorable day in the career of Tom Jones, for on the evening of that day, Mr. Davies gave a big dinner in honour of his first apprentice, at his private residence in Collins - street,
The Columbian Hand Press on which "The Mercury" was first printed in 1854, at the rate
of 250 copies an hour. Contrast this primitive machine with the modern giant Hand Rotary Press depicted below-the last word in machines of its kind-on which "The Mercury" is printed, folded, and counted today at the rate of over 40,000 copies an hour.
Situate at the corner of Kemp-street, and still standing. He assembled the whole of his employees, numbering 44. Upwards of 60 persons sat down to the dinner. In proposing-the toast of his principal guest, Mr. Davies adverted to the faithfulness exhibited by Mr. Jones throughout his apprenticeship, and paid a high and, "The Mercury" believed, a well-merited compliment to the industry and ability he had displayed at all times.
The toast was drunk with the utmost enthusiasm. Mr. Jones rose to return thanks, but the reporter said that he was too much affected to say more than that he thanked the company for their kindness. That was the only occasion on which Tom Jones failed to find language to express his thoughts.
He used to have a good flow of words in
the old press-room, so grown-up "runners"
have avowed. He is now in his 82nd year, with a well-thatched head, and a ruddy complexion. He loves to talk to intimate friends of the races he has seen run on the old New Town racecourse, and of the actors and actresses who have won laurels
on the boards of the Theatre Royal. He talks most interestingly as he smokes his old briar pipe.
It is a changed world which the veteran printer lives in now. It is a testimony to his freshness of mind, however, that he is not quite sure that in all respects the olden days were the best days. His days of well-earned ease are untinged with bitterness. He is satisfied to have done his particular job to the best of his capabilities, and to have taken his part in the evolution of the printing business just as he believes everybody else who makes the best of life, must have a part, and must play it with the best in Him
R.J.W.