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VALEDICTORY LUNCHEON TO MR.
ROBERT KYFFIN THOMAS.
On Saturday, March 29, a valedictory
.luncheon was given in the large room in
Register Chambers to Mr. R. K. Thomas, one
of the proprietors of the Register, Observer.
and Journal, who has leit the colony on a
trip to Europe. Mr. Charles Day, J.P.,
another of the proprietors, presided, and
there were over fifty persons present, includ
ing members of the literary and commercial
staffs and heads of the various other depart
ments in the office. Mr. J. Medway Day,
in proptsing the health of Mr. and Mrs.
Thomas, referred to the fact that they had
met to bid farewell for a time to one who
was a native of the colony, and who was
in every respect a child of the Register,
having been associated with it almost from
his birth, and certainly from hi3 boyhood.
From his first coming into the colony
seventeen years ago he had been intimate
with Mr. Thomas a late respected father, and
towards his son also he had always entertained
feelings of the strongest personal friendship.
Since hia own connection with the paper
there had not, he believed, been a movement
of this kind initiated in which all the depart
ments had joined more cordially than in
the present one, in which they desired to
express their esteem for Mr. Thomas, and to
wish him an exceedingly pleasant voyage and
speedy and safe return. (Hear, hear!) He
was sure that Mr. Thomas in England would
have no cause to be ashamed of acknowledg
ing himself a proprietor of the Register
and a representative of the Australian Press,
for the paper itself would be a sufficient
recommendation to any one connected with
it who wished to find entree into the best
ournalistic circles of England. (Cheers.)
He was also sure that they would have
no need to be ashamed of Mr. Thomas
as a fine specimen of an Australian. Mr.
Day then, on behalf of employes, presented
Mr. Thomas with a handsome travelling-bag,
replete with toilet appliances elegantly
mounted in silver. Mr. Thomas's health
having been drunk with musical honours,
Mr. Thomas, in response, expressed his
gratitude for the kindness shown him, and
stated that the most cordial relations had
always existed between the whole of the
departments and himself. (Hear, hear.) He
probably had had a more varied experience
of the several departments than any one else
present, and he could honestly say that there
was the strongest desire on the part of all
connected with the newspaper to serve its
best interests. He was sure that the old
proprietors, whom they all respected so
much, felt they were not at the head of
merely a business concern, but that they really
had a great and almost a national trust to
conserve. (Cheers.) Their successors had
endeavoured to do their best to follow in
their footsteps, and he thought that
the employe's had also kept this trust in
view. (Hear, hear.) If one had a right to
be proud of his associates it must be on an
occasion like the present. (Hear, hear.) He
thanked them on oehalf of Airs. Thomas as
well as himself for their kind wishes. Mr.
G. Wilson, Manager of the mechanical de
partments, proposed—' Success to the Regis
ter, Observer, and Journal newnpapers,' and
in doing so alluded to the fact that the policy
of the papers for the last thirty-two years
had been a distinctly progressive policy.
Those connected with them Bad every reason
to be proud of them, The policy through
out had been not to indulge in blow.
Only that day there had been an addition in
the size of the paper. That had brougHt
forth a very little blast in the shape of four
or five lines of matter calling attention
to the change, but that was all— (laughter
and Hear, hear)— and that was only
one of the many instances which had
occurred of the quiet policy which
had been pursued b\- the owners of
the papers. Mr. G. L. Cooper, Manager of
the Printing Department, also spoke
to the toast, alluding to the advance
made by the Register during the forty
five years of his connection with it.
Mr. J, H. Finlajraon, J.P., in responding,
stated that it had been always the aim
of the Register and its associated papers to
take a leading place in promoting the welfare
of this great land. The proprietors believed
in South Australia, and had done their beat
to advance its interests, to promote the cause
of truth and uprightness, and honest and
good government in this colony. (Cheers.)
They felt thatthe mission of a newspaper was
above all things to influence the community
in a right direction, and they had sought to
accomplish that mission. With regard to
the object of their meeting, he had known
Mr. Thomas from his infancy. He had been
associated with him on the staff of the
Register almost from his earliest days, and
during the last seven or eight years
he had been his partner in the pro
prietorship of the paper. It was impossible
lor partners to have, been more cordial in
thir relations or more unanimous in their
actions than he and his colleagues had been.
With them he did not think it had been a
question of mere commercial success ; when
ever they had felt that the interests of South
Australia would be advanced by any course
of procedure they had been at one in agree
ing that it should be carried out He would
say further that there was not one present
who had not contributed more or less mate
rially to all that had been achieved. There
were around him that afternoon men
who had been on the staff of the
Register for periods ranging up to forty
five years. Numbers of them had been
connected with the paper for over thirty
years. He could himself Bpeak of a connec
tion of over twenty-two years, Mr. C. Day for
thirty-five years, while Mr. Thomas had
been on the paper ever since he was cap
able of taking part in the management of
anythiDg. (Laughter.) He was quite satisfied
that the trip Mr. Thomas was about to take
would be in every sense beneficial to him.
As a man of intelligence, who took a great
interest in literary and mechanical matters,
he could not fail to profit by his trip. He
would there come into contact with men who
had a more wide-world experience than that
of men ordinarily to be found in the colonies.
There were some colonists who went home
and were injured by the results of their trip,
for they returned with the impression that
this place was beneath notice. South Aus
tralia was not beneath notice. (Cheers.) In
many respects she had attained to a position
the people of England were simply struggling
after, and which it would take years to reach.
Be was sure, however, that Mr. Thomas
would not be one of those who would be
injured by his travels ; he would be careful
to extend his knowledge, and return with a
fuller belief in the f nture of South Australia.
HaviDg alluded to his own visit to England
and the pleasure it had given him while away
to see how the prestige of the Register -was
being maintained, Mr. Finlayson took occa
sion to refer to remarks which had recently ap
peared in print indicating that such advances
had been made in the circulation of other
papers that one would think there was
scarcely room for the Register in South Aus
tralia. (Laughter.) He was not going to
Wow ; it had never been the policy of the
Register to blow. As Mr. WTilson had said,
they produced the article, they exhibited it
to the public, and they left the public to form
their own conclusions and act upon them.
He did not begrudge any genuine advance in
circulation that a paper made upon its merits
in the colony ; but thishewonld say, whatever
increase their friends over the way had made
it had not been at the expense of the Register
—(cheers)— and it certainly had not been at
the expense of the Journal. Whether another
evening paper had suffered, those connected
with that paper best knew. He knew it
would be a satisfaction to his heaiers to learn
that the papers with which they were con
nected had been able to hold their own in
3pite of what was said of the circulation else
where. The healths of Mr. J. M. Day, Mr.
C. Day, and Mr. H. Hele were also drunk and
respondrd to, after which Mr. Thomas pro
posed the ' Printing Departments,' to which
Mr. G. Wilson, Mr. G. L. Cooper, and Mr. W.
I. Bednall replied. The gathering then brok6
ap.
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