Oh, how things have changed!
A 1905 Waikato newspaper unearthed recently by Cambridge man Bill Wilson makes for some interesting comparisons with today’s newspapers. The content and style has changed drastically and so has the cost of everything, which in the case of these yellowed old papers is splashed liberally across the front page.
There are many standout differences, particularly when it comes to page one. Just one can be seen in Bill’s Waikato Independent of Thursday, June 22, 1905, where the leading left-side offering is The Poet’s Column. Its poems, entitled “Too Old” and “A Fellowship Hymn”, are followed by snippets of information headed “Stately Homes of England” giving detailed descriptions and the costings of the day. Still on page one and still with money in mind, there are several properties advertised … one in Frankton with “water laid on” for £550, and an acre of Cambridge farm, said to be in the “best position in town” for £100. What is described as a “gentleman’s residence, complete with nine rooms, a bathroom and every convenience, a stable, buggy house, man’s room and five acres of volcanic soil” topped out the front-page listings, at least in terms of price, at £1500.
Bill found this and other early newspapers while clearing out an old house in Duke St.
Another one, dated March 7, 1939, had polo on the front page, advertisements for positions wanted and offered and accommodation. Not until well into the paper does ‘news’ appear, and there is not a hint of the mayhem that was to erupt later that year with the start of World War 11.
Bill was tickled pink with his find and says he will pass the newspaper on to the Cambridge Museum to add to their collection.
Cambridge’s Bill Willson with one of the old newspapers he found.
