The first photograph in Times

THE story of the signing of the Deed of Cession at Nasova on October 10,1874, perhaps the most important piece of news in Fiji’s history, appears under a single-column heading some way down column 3 on page 4.

In 1903, heavy display type appeared in headlines, but the size was well below those common today.

Sir Alport Barker (owner from 1918) inherited the Typograph typesetting machines from the old Fiji Times and in 1920 he installed the first Linotype.

Since then all type lines all type lines in the body of the news were cast on Linotype or Intertype machines.

Until 1958, headlines and the larger type in locally composed advertisements continued to be set by hand. Then a Ludlow caster was installed.

Offset printing opened the way to “cold-type” composition and a start was made with an IBM composer for body type. From then on, the future lay with computer-controlled setting.

In its earlier years, the Fiji Times contained no illustrations. In the early 1920s, photographs printed from blocks made overseas began to appear and as government information services in Britain and the United States blossomed during World War II, the number of illustrations from plastic blocks grew.

When R.W.Robson (owner from 1956) bought the Fiji Times, his company was operating a Klischograph electronic engraving machine in Sydney.

Problems arose because of union restrictions and arrangements were made for the purchase of the Kliscograph by the Suva photographic firm Stinsons Ltd, with a promise that the

Fiji Times would be a ready customer. The need for block-making facilities in the newspapers’ own plant developed and in September 1964, a Photo-Lathe electronic engraving machine was bought.

The installation of the Compac cable by Cable and Wireless in 1963 opened up the possibility of receiving photographs by wire from overseas. The first such picture published by the Fiji Times appeared on January 9, 1965.

It was a photo showing the scene in Westminster Hall, where the body of Sir Winston Churchill was lying in state.

Picture: FT FILE Picture: FT FILE The first photograph to be printed in The Fiji Times through the wire service on January 9, 1965. The Fiji Times office premises before independence.