"CAPITALISTIC PRESS."

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 495, 30 April 1909, Page 6

"CAPITALISTIC PRESS."

MUST NOT REPORT THE TRADEB COUNCIL. •SAVING LABOUR FROM RIDICULE. Tho Wellington Trades Council last night - decided to go back to its practice of holding its meetings in camera. ' - Mr: Parlane resumed the adjourned debate on the motion of Mr. W. T. Young:— That the resolution providing for tho admission of tho press to tho meetings of tho council bo rescinded in so far as it r applied to the capitalistic press. Mr. Parlane opposed tho imotion on tho ground that the throwing open of tho mcotings to tho' press had not received a long enough trial. t Ho also objeqted to tho proposed discrimination in favour of tho Labour paper. Ho did not think omployers would discriminate in the sarao way in favour of tboir own papers. He believed tho reason of tho motion was that the reporters made much ■of little unpleasant incidonts, but tho way to avoid that was to' turn out) not their friends the press, but tho delegates who kept up a fusillade" of silly interjections, and so forth. Mr. Naughton said ho had .always been against tho presence of reporters, but ho would support Mr. Parlane. Thero were, un- ' fortunately, some delegates who had no sense of tboir responsibilities. Tho press vhad totter for tho amusement of tho pubKo\but it had roportod the proceedings of the council fairly. It'had criticised them, but criticism should bo the breath of life to them, and if their views wore as truo and important as they believed them to bo, they should bo fully published: Tho council should ■do ,certain business in committco, and if a reporter wrote ridiculing tho committee proceedings, as had 'onco been done, that reporter could be excluded in the future. Hav- ■ ing the roporters present prevented tho issue ' of coloured reports -by -delegates, a practice which was apt to lead to letters of contradiction in tho newspapers. % ' Mr. Young said tho remarks of Mr. Naughton and Mr. Parlane did not concern , him. Ho had always been moro or less' fearless, and /they could report anything he had i said, bnt he wanted to shield the Labour , 'cause from ridicule. He had no quarrel with 'the reporters, but ho believed the editors or sub-editors altered their reports. He nad ' heard good debates in tho council which were not reported at all, tfhile certain interjections were reported verbatim. This was dono sololy for the purpose of throwing ridicule, on the cause. Tho press of this city was not for ■ tho worker, not for tho downtrodden, not for tho poor. It was for its own side, the side of capital, and no other. Ho appealed for support to his motion in the interests of tho now Labour paper, which, being a weokly, would bo later with its lcports. He submitted that tho business had been better conducted, and moro had been done when tho pres3 was not admitted. Some delegates talked for the, reporters,, and others were retarded from freely expressing their opinions by the presence of the reporters. He hoped • tho motion would bo earned, and that they would not allow the enemy to bring them into .ridicule. (Applause.). , On a show of hands tho motion was carried by 20 votes to 16. Mr. Carpy, referring to a remark by Mr. said that during the two years he had officially reported tbo-conncil for'the press there had been no complaint of partiality as to his,reports. Mr. Naughton explained that his remarkdid not refor'to Mr. Carey's 'reports.