SOME FEATURES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 1, 26 September 1907, Page 4

SOME FEATURES.

The attitude of " The Dominion towards public affairs has been briefly indicated in the preceding article. The paper claims an independence of external, influences, and a freedom from any form of personal or party bias which should enable it to conduct the high duties it assumes to-day in a manner calculated to advance the. best interests of the community it aspires to serve. But it is through-the news colums of tho paper that it can make its strongest appeal' to the great bulk of its readers; and it is in this department that it can most speedily carry conviction that its professions axe not piecrust promises made to serve the purposes of the moment. The Dominion has made special arrangements throughout New Zealand, Australia America, the Mother Country, the Far East, in fact, broadly speaking, the whole world, to secure news, from the best informed sources, lilcey to interest its readers. Correspondents have been appointed in these places whose contributions will supplement the supply which reaches the Press of the Colony through the ordinary channels, and the result should bo the growth of a better understanding' of the great national developments .which are taking place beyond our immediate range of vision, and a closer acquaintance with the minor, but to us, perhaps, more immediately important movements, which are progressing nearer home. A feature which The Dominion introduces to the journalism of New Zealand is a daily budget of matter designed specially to interest the lady readers of the paper. . While fashions and social gossip. and other topics of lighter feminine interest will he given ample space in our columns, they will not exclude the devotion of attention to those intellectual topics . which must claim the interest of thoughtful women. A section of our pages will be devoted every Saturday, under the heading " Religious Activity," to the publication of news of the churches. We look with confidence to a very wide •approval of this department of Tiie Dominion, which,_ it is hardly necessary to explain, will be conducted on the imseetarian basis which'makes no distinction of denomination, recognising only that a wide interest in religious movements' is a valuable preservative agency in keeping public opinion who'esomc. Such room for improvement in the supply of commercial intelligence of an up-to-date, accurate and informative character as has been left by the customs of New Zealand journalism will, we hope, vanish in the arrangements which we have made for the development of the " commercial intelligence " side of the paper. Australian newspapers have, in recant years, recognised that the ultimate repository of a nation's wealth and stability is the soil, and . that. journalism has the means of doing a great deal to assist, and stimulate the primary producer. New Zealand tanners have loiig desired an adequate and frequent supply ot news and advice touching their special in-,: terests, and we are seeking now to meet that requirement. A budget of matter of interest to the runholder, the grazier, the dairyman, the sheep-grower, and the grain-grower, enbracing current market intelligence, farm news, and specially written articles, will appear daily in our cohimus. The fanner will therein learn what other fanner,i- are doimv, what science is doing, for fanning, and what the world H doing j (.hat the farmer should know. An enumeration of the features j which we intend to make,.: through our treatment, specially ; our own, is forbidden us by tiie limits of our space, but we may note here that our law reports and reports of Parliamentary proceedings will have this point of newness, that they will have a greater fulness and comprehensiveness than the public has been accustomed to. Our attention will, of course, be given to sport, to literary matters, and to the lighter side of ]ife._ Our first appearance on Dominion Day has put such pressure upon our space ; in covering the historical mat- j ter appropriate to the occasion, j that we are unable to develop all our features in this issue, but we ask for no indulgence beyond a | patience that will await the sue-1 ceeding issues of the current | week. As from' to-day we shall call ourso!ve3 a Dominion, br.i it I will be the studied effort of this j iinper to remember the Colonial j —the man who made New Zenland what it is to-day. We 1

sliall, as we write, remember tlie pioneer, who braved villi wife and family, dangers wlneli are unknown to the doctrinaire of today, and we shall strive to make our paper a truly representative or.e, giving free and full representation to the views of every class and interest in the'community—pandering to none—reserving to ourselves the right to comment in our Editorials as wa shall think tit—and desiring only fro?!! every class, the tribute that whatever the Editorial opinions nifty be, the reports of news are full and absolutely without bias or personal feeling.