The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1883. The Last Straw.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 1079, 20 October 1883, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1883. The Last Straw.

When the penultimate San Francisco mail arrived at Auckland we referred in a leader to the manner in which the Press Association’s summary of news was compiled. The gentleman whose duty it is to transmit this intelligence all over the colony would seem however to be above taking advice, and his latest summary is perhaps the worst that long suffering newspaper proprietors have been called upon to pay for. We notice that several of our contemporaries have commented on this matter, and it is to be hoped that the present state of things will be remedied before another mail comes in. That plenty of items can be gathered which would be interesting to colonists is abundantly shown by the admirable letters which several New Zealand journals receive every month, but instead of these the Association agent sends us a lot of nauseous scandal, clipped from second-rate American journals. Take for example the gossip about an actress from the States, by name Miss Mary Anderson, who we are told in one paragraph is playing to meagre audiences, and in another that she is so careful of her reputation that she declined an introduction to the Prince of Wales. This latter assertion, which no sensible person would ever believe contains a scintilla of truth, would form no doubt a toothsome morsel to a Republican pothouse politician, in whose nostrils the very name of royalty stinks. Nor do we derive much edification from learning that the heir apparent to the Throne had a pleasant time at Berlin, where he attended a masked ball, from which the Princess was absent. • The latter fact, we presume, is to be taken as one of the causes of the enjoyment. Equally worthy of reprobation are the items concerning her Majesty the Queen and the late gillie, John Brown, which even if they have any foundation in fact should only find a place in the lowest order of what are called “ Society ” journals. But it names held in reverence by all except a small minority of Englishmen are taken in vain, many people are mentioned whose affairs are not in the least degree interesting to New Zealanders. Who, for instance, cares to know that a “great social scandal ” —an euphemism, by the way, for an elopement of a doctor with the wife of a friend —is agitating the “tone” of Chicago; or that a “ dashing swell" has committed bigamy in Canada? These events may be worthy of chronicling in the places where they occur, but they are assuredly of no moment to us. Examples of what we complain of might be innumerably multiplied, as our readers can see for themselves by perusing the summary we published the other day. Bad as the 'previous compilations have been we must vote this last effort as preeminent in this particular. Colonial readers have a right to enter a protest against an association which is satisfied with sending as news the offscourings of the lowest class of American journalism. The latest specimen of bad taste is the last straw, and we repeat our formerly-expressed hope that some other arrangements will be made to ensure our getting intelligence that is something better than repulsive and uninteresting scandal.