A Collection of Old Tosh

Newspaper supplements have been described as ‘unashamed collections of old tosh cobbled together to make money for publishers.’ [i]  And they have indeed been used to boost newspaper sales. In the 1890s William Hearst, owner of America’s largest newspaper chain and media company Hearst Communications, put sheet music in his Sunday papers to cash in on the growing interest in popular music.[ii] 

Sheet music printed by W. R. Hearst as a supplement to The Examiner on 16 Feb 1896
Irish Sheet Music Archives

In contrast, newspaper owners such as Alfred Harmsworth believed supplements could enhance a paper’s reputation. In 1908, due to Harmsworth’s popularist and sometimes controversial reputation, concerns were raised regarding his acquisition of The Times. To counter this Harmsworth printed more than 91 supplements focusing on the ‘serious’ subjects of geography and politics.[iii]

Closer to home, subscribers to the Bay of Plenty Times (BOPT) were familiar with the inclusion of supplements having first made their appearance on 9 May 1877 - readers were presented ‘with a gratis supplement containing two maps of the immediate theatre of the War in the East’ (Russo-Turkish War 1877-1878).[iv] In 1879 the new owner, George Vesey Stewart, discontinued the weekly supplement with the promise  that the ‘production of one of a superior character’ would follow.[v] In 1881 a monthly supplement did reappear focusing on local and national politics, news, and opinion - topics close to Stewart’s heart.

The first illustrated supplement in the BOPT was printed in June 1887 – during the appearance of several rival local papers.[vi] The supplement, celebrating Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, consisted of two pages of litho portraits of the royal family:

‘There will be published on Wednesday 22^nd Inst., an Illustrated Supplement to the Bay of Plenty Times. No resident of Tauranga should lose this opportunity of obtaining a permanent memento of the event. Only a limited number will be printed. Send in your orders for the extra copies required’. [vii]

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XV, Issue 2153, 22 June 1887, page 2

With the arrival of a new owner in 1888, supplements designed to promote the district’s businesses and attractions began to appear. Such publicity was desperately needed as the depression of the 1880s hit Tauranga hard. In A History of Tauranga County Evelyn Stokes remarks that despite a shortage of money in the district ‘there was no lack of enterprise’ amongst its inhabitants [viii]. This is reflected in a supplement printed in August 1888 which proclaims, amongst other things, that Tauranga is ‘the paradise of small capitalists’ and ‘the great sanatorium of the Britain of the south.’ 

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XV, Issue 2318, 10 August 1888, Page 3 (Supplement)

In June 1924 the BOPT published a two-section supplement commemorating the opening of the ‘Railway Bridge across Tauranga Harbour and the commencement of a regular train service connecting the Eastern Districts of the Bay of Plenty with the Principal Town’. The twenty-page supplement promoted Tauranga as a great place to live and even included a long list of the town’s wonders. Here is a snippet of what it said the town had to offer. It’s up to you to decide if it is tosh or not!

1. Tauranga harbour has no bar - lowest depth 19 feet at low spring tides.
2. Tauranga has the mildest winter in New Zealand.
3. Tauranga district has fine old Maori fortifications in many places.
4. “Tauranga is the place for you” says every doctor who knows it.
5. Tauranga is the base from which to reach the finest deep-sea fishing grounds in the world.
6. Tauranga is the economical distributing point for the Bay of Plenty.
7. Tauranga has one of the finest town halls outside the cities.
8. Tauranga has a high-pressure supply of the purest water.
9. Tauranga has a good drainage system over the principal portion of the town.
10. Tauranga’s climate is without compare in New Zealand.
11. Tauranga harbour can be entered in all weathers and provides perfect shelter.
12. Tauranga is the only natural East Coast harbour between Auckland and Wellington.
13. Tauranga sends more eggs to market than any other country centre in the province.
14. Tauranga grows lemons better than are grown elsewhere - soil and climate ideal.
15. Tauranga leads New Zealand in electrical development for domestic purposes.
16. Tauranga has ideal beaches for bathing.
17. Tauranga is now connected by railway with the eastern Bay of Plenty districts as far as Whakatane.
18. Tauranga is a picnicker’s paradise - the harbour abounds in attractive camping grounds.
19. Tauranga can be reached by motor car run of a few hours from Waihi, Matamata or Rotorua.
20. Tauranga provides the collector with the best seashells in New Zealand.
21. Tauranga has good game shooting - pheasants, quail, hares, and ducks.
22. Tauranga has surf-bathing equal to the best, and safer.
23. Tauranga has 25 miles of land locked harbour for boating and fishing.
24. Tauranga has an old military cemetery of great historic interest.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LII, Issue 8616, 13 June 1924, Page 7
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries.

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[i] Alan Geere, Supplements, In Publishing (2010) https://www.inpublishing.co.uk/articles/supplements-1682

[ii] https://irishsheetmusicarchives.com/History/Sunday-Newspaper-Supplements.htm

[iii] Peter O’Connor & Peter Robinson, The Times Supplements, 1910-1917 https://brill.com/fileasset/downloads_products/The_Times_Supplements_background_article.pdf

[iv] https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT18770509.2.16.1?items_per_page=10&page=3&phrase=2&query=supplement&snippet=true&sort_by=byDA&title=BOPT

[v] Bay of Plenty Times, Volume IX, Issue 927, 21 August 1880, page 2.

[vi] Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 14460, 4 September 1947, page 2.

[vii] Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XV, Issue 2152, 17 June 1887, page 2.

[viii] Evelyn Stokes, A History of Tauranga County, page 259.