The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 269, 14 February 1879, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14.

John Bull likes Ms newspaper, and young Mr B. of the' colonies emulates the exampje of his' sire,, and creates a verf extensive demand: for , ;this , 'kind;of , literature. No.doubt he has very vague ideas as; to-the maimer in which this want of his is supplied. When lie makes hisaftfr-tlhiiier speech lie likpsto see himself in all the glories of print; and is surprised to' find what, a clever fellow-hje is, and hoW| telling some of tlie points which he iriade. Of course, it never enters into his brain to conceive thafaiiy of thi'g neatness and elegance are due to the somewhat seedy individual wild was industriously chewing the stump of im exceedingly shabby" pencil, .while he, the orator, >ag discussing: roast turkey and that little road grievr ance with the great'man of the evening. He forgets that what he really'did say would run sohiethihg as follows:—" Mr Chairman, aw~ hum/ in — ah4-rising this evening—aw—-I feel, gentlemen— hum—rj. say, I feel—aw, ( huin--rgreat ocbas'ion —like* p.re-sent-^-aw—cahoot express— &c ;" whereas in the next njorning's broadsheet the world is informed that " Mr Bull; expressed the great pleasure it gave him to have been entrusted' with the toast placed in his hands, &c." Mr 8., we say, utterly ignores all this. , Of how newspapers are. nianufactured he is utterly ignorant/ and would place the intelligence and 'enterprise necessary to conduct one far below that requisite for —say sugar broking hi the old country or , sheep-raising in the new.'- To him the " reporter"; is a nameless individual, who must be provided with >a corner somewhere, and whona he pictures to himself; vrheri : he' condescends to think about" him'at : all , , as-wearing rusty black, frequenting third-class coffee-houses, carrying, papers in -his hat, and always being in debt to his landlady. , I But let Mr Bull dri'ce' take office of any description, and, the tolerant, if contemptuous indifference with which he has. formerly regarded men connected* with the press, changes into ' virulent hatred, mingled with fear. It matters hot what his position may, be—whether he be Inspector; ,of Lamposts for the village of Muddleborough, or Honorable Member of Assembly'fdr' Sheepanacres— the same feeling is there, though in the former case it will probably find, its expression in vernacular : Billingsgate,- and in the latter be veiled; under, an entirely foigned' assumption of contemptuous indifference. A short time ago one Tewsley, having emerged from his native obscurity to take a seat on a Harbor Board, gave utterance to the entirely: unnecessary assertion that under no circumstances could ' lie be prevailed upon to edit a newspaper; giving as a reason for this determination the * uncomplimentary statement that all editors were rogues and liars. In a recent discussion in the Christchurch City .Council, Councillor Cass is reported to have said uhe did not mind what the Press' said, as it was a well known fact that Press men were sceptics-and heretics."

We might multiply s instances ad infinitum, but : the tendency: of Mr Bull when in office to vilify the Press (perhaps the ladder by which he .climbed the giddy eminence) is made manifest in a thousand ways. It makes one inclined to ask witfr "Truthful James," $ Do I sleep, do I dream ? Are things as they seem ? Is our civilization a failure ? Or is. the Caucasian played out?" If, indeed, there were any grounds for these strictures',' we might sorrowfully conclude that our civilization was a decided failure. For there is no more certain truth than that a free Press is; abd must be, a reflex of the , public opinion hi the community in which it lives,-moves, and has its being. The Press may to a certain extent * lead; and educate public opinion. . Its mission is to:do-so. : But it can never lag behind. If any newspaper ceases •td represent the-tone and feeling of any considerable section of -the community, it ipso facto ceases to exist. Therefore if Press men were, as these libellers assert, rogues, liars, and infidels,'

it would merely be a proof that societyhad sunk to a.very low ebb.

We have no desire to claim for the profession to which we, have the honor to belong, any special exemption from the weaknesses and foibles to which human nature is heir, but ire can assure their ignorant detractors that there exists •in their ranks a large amount of talent and patient industry, that, however % incredible it may appear to the parish vestryman intelligence, there ?ire men among them who pay their tradesmen's bills, send their children to school, and go to 'church on (Sunday. As a rule journalists pass these stupid attacks by in dignified silence, as a motive for which a profound contempt for their authors holds a considerable place, but there are times when silence becomes

sible,

almost criminal, when some Bottom makes himself more than usually offensive and deserves to be painted in his true when it is necessary to respond "to Dogberry's pathetic appeal, und ; ' write him down an ass." '. f