THE BOYCOTT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 867, 13 July 1910, Page 7

THE BOYCOTT.

AN OUTSIDE VIEW. "AN ABUSE OF POWER." The Christchurch "Press" devotes its first editorial in its issue of Monday to a discussion of the Government's boycott of The Dominion-. We'give its article in full:— The return of Government advertising, called for by Mr. Massoy, justifies all that has been said by the Opposition critics about Government's policy in this matter. In his speech at Hokitiku in May, Sir Joseph Ward quoted a numbor of selected figures to show that the Government was so desperately anxious not to favour its own side, that in the preceding twenty-one months it had actually spent £204 more with Opposition publications in the four centres than with the organs. Sir Joseph Ward, however, could not even in this carefully compiled return omit the glaring ease of The Dominion, which received £176 to the £1034 received by the "New Zealand Times." The return laid on the table on Friday is much fuller, and puts tho Government action in a much worse light. Last year The Dominion received only £12 16s. 3d., compared with £576 received by the "New Zealand Times,' and £599 by the "Post." It is the policy of the Government, says Sir Joseph, to "give fair distribution between Opposition and Government papers." The Prime Minister's sense of fairness, it seems, permits him, as head of the Government, to s>ve less than £13 worth of State advertisements in a year to a large and ably conducted daily paper, with a very wide circulation, and to Erve exactly fortyfive times as much to that paper's chief competitor. It accords with his principles regarding the distribution, of Government advertisements that The Dominion should receive about half the amount given to a notorious weekly sheet published in Wellington. It would surely puzzle even some members of the Ministry to defend to their constituents such an action. ' It is indeed wholly indefensible. Everyone knows that The Dominion-is being punished for its outspoken criticism of the Government's policy and actions. The Government's action is not merely bad from a business point of view, but it is an abuse of power for which there can be no excuse. But what can the country expect? Votes, after all, speak louder than words, and Sir Joseph .Ward's protestations that, the Government advertising .is fairlv distiibuW may be set against his action last year when he formed one of tlie majority which rejected a motion affirming "that Government advertisements should, be supplied to newspapers regardless of their political convictions, and with a view only to securing the best return to the taxpayers for the money so expended." After tho figures . quoted above, who can doubt that Sir Joseph's vote expresses his real opinion better than his platform utterances?