That is to say, there is nothing save public opinion, which is itself hamstrung by the passing of the Independent Press.
APPENDIX
The growth of the Newspaper Combine has become so complex, with its interlocking directorates and the holdings of one company in another, that details would weary the reader. But in order that he may understand the process, the following is given as a typical example.
The Amalgamated Press, of which Sir William Berry is chairman, was formed at the end of last year to take over another undertaking of the same name. This is one of the Northcliffe ventures, which grew so amazingly that it eventually owned over a hundred weekly, fortnightly, monthly and annual publications; ten libraries; the Waverly Book Co. Ltd., which is concerned with educational publications; the Radio Press, Ltd.; two other publishing concerns; and controlling interests in one of the largest paper-making concerns in the country and in a Canadian paper company owning over a thousand square miles of timber land. The new company also took over a dozen publications from Cassell & Co. Ltd.
Sir William Berry is also the chairman of Allied Newspapers, Ltd., which owns the share capital in Allied Northern Newspapers, Ltd., and owns or controls the London Sunday Times, and a considerable number of morning, evening and Sunday papers in Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow and elsewhere, including the Daily Despatch, the Sunday Chronicle, the Empire News, the Daily Record, and the North Mail and Newcastle Daily Chronicle. At the end of last year, the company also agreed to buy all the ordinary shares in the Daily Sketch and Sunday Herald, Ltd.
This list is far from giving a complete record of Sir William Berry’s interests, which also include the chairmanship of the companies owning the Financial Times and the Western Mail, the latter one of the leading newspapers in the West of England. But the details are sufficient to illustrate the process whereby publications of the most varied nature and influence, and appealing to specialised local interests all over the country as well as to the public as a whole, have been and are being brought under a common control.
Transcriber’s Notes:
Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.