Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 1948 SIGN OF PROGRESS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 71, 21 July 1948, Page 4

Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 1948

SIGN OF PROGRESS

Last week’s “Standard”, the Labour Party weekly, quotes a circular isued by the Runanga State Miners’ Union in reference to the latest West Coast coal dispute as having said: “It frequently happens that when the workers in any particular industry are out on strike that other sections’ of 'the community or the country whose domestic, social or industrial' activities are adversely affected are inclined to sit in rather harsh judgment on the strikers without an awareness of the situation. This situation is often created by "the reluctance of the striking union to placte its side pf the case before the public.” That such a statement should be published by a Labour Party paper is an encouraging sign that the Party is perhaps seeking a more intelligent line of approach in its propaganda.

It indicates that it is at last being realised that unfounded abuse directed at the newspapers that do not bend the knee to their particular brand of politics is perhaps not wise tactics for union leaders to adopt. At last one strong Union has had the courage and the common sense to admit that the oft-re-peated accusation that the newspapers give only one side of the story is too frequently based on the fact that authentic information is often available to newspapers from only one side in a dispute. There are very few newspaper men who have been through the hurly burly of daily reporting who have not, at some time or another been greeted with abuse from truculent strike officials when honestly seeking a fair statement of the workers’ case in an industrial dispute. Most have been sufficiently merciful

not to publish any account of the reception they got. Often the reward for their reticence has been a further allegation of bias, based on the fact that the papers they represented published one side of the story only. Similarly, information about Labour Party activities is often hard for newspapers not actually tied to the party’s chariot wheels to get. .Great secrecy often attends the selection of candidates for Parliament. Even the officers of district branches of the Party sometimes prefer to remain anonymous. > . In fact, the whole system of shrinking from publicity goes back to the bad old days when membership of the.Labour Party was regarded as something not “quaite naice”, when our present Cabinet Ministers were subjected by ruling politicians of the day to the sort of attacks they themselves are now directing at the Communists. Nowadays the movement need no longer seek the shadows. Nor need it stick to the propaganda methods of the latter part of the last century and rant loudly against the big, bad boss. After all, he’s where they wanted him now. He’s the only man about the place who hasn’t a forty-hour week and has to admit he sometimes can’t afford to pay his taxes and go to the races as well.

The Runanga miners are to be congratulated on their move to try to give the public a better understanding of their problems. The “Standard” is to be congratulated on featuring the story. What is needed more than anything else in this country today is better understanding amongst different groups of society as a first step to settling differences in a spirit of tolerance and goodwill.