THE PRESS AND THE TELEGRAPH.

Evening Star, Issue 3018, 22 October 1872, Page 2

THE PRESS AND THE TELEGRAPH.

An agitation similar to that which is now going on in the (olony for a reduction of of telegraph rates to fc ie p-ess is being con ducted with considerable vigor in Victoria, where not only have the representatives of some seventy newspapers met as a conference to consider Press matters of importance, but have laid their views before the Premier and Treasurer of that Colony. At that meeting a number of suggestions were made for the consideration of Government; and a few of them have a bearing on the question now being discussed here. The suggestions which at all interest us, are these 1. That this conference is of opinion that the principle of a Government subsidy to the telegraphic press messages received in this Colony from Europe is a sound one, equally with the subsidising of the postal arrangements, and shall be granted for the benefit of the public; that the Victorian subsidy should be L 15,500 a year, a free press message to that extent being transmitted daily, and that the co operation of the other colonies be invitot],. 2. That the Victorian telegraphic press rates should be reduced to Is Gd per 100 words, and a corresponding reduction bo made for the same message when repeated. 3. That the conference emphatically condemns the principle of using the Government Gazette, as an advertising medium regarding that course as a waste of public money, and a wrong to the press ; that the sale of Crown Lauds and all otaer local notifications should be advertised in the newspapers circulating in the district to which su hj notices appear. We propo-o to run through the arguments used in Victoria, and to comment upon them in so far as they are applicable to this Colony. It was maintained that a reduction of the tariff would result in a large increase to the revenue. The reasonableness of this proposition is self evident; and the success which has attended previous concessions to the press ought to be sufficient to induce the de-

partment to at onoe fall in with it. The press has no desire to save money on messages, but to be able to give more news. At present, a large sum is paid for very little intelligence, while the regulations at present in existence are anything but satisfactory. Sometimes it happens that a summary of Eng ish news is curtailed because there is dearth of news, and for a message of 500 words, although 100 words are allowed for LI, the full fee is charged ; but because on another occasion the message contains 1020 words, or perhaps 1100 words, the newspaper has to pay t-2. And this is only one instance ; many others could be cited. In England, the principal provincial papers are enabled to get a whole page of telegraphic news at a moderate cost. For LSOO a year they can secure a line, and, if anything of importance was occurring in the metropolis, the manager of a newspaper would get a wire for that night. Here it is a serious tax to get 200 or 300 words. The last summary via Francisco contained 1000 words, and its transmission was commenced at Auckland at 8 a.m., and finished here at about 3 p.m. We have often messages of twenty words to be delayed for seven or eight hours. One shilling for 100 words is the English charge, and it is proposed that in Victoria the price shall be Is 6d and in New Zealand 2s. The contention respecting the use of the Government Gazette as an advertising medium was, that it was unfair that the Government should enter into competition with the press of the Colony as they, did in th s case, handicapping them so heavily. There had been a growing tendency for some time past not simply to make the Gazette a medium for civil service notices, but a medium for public notices of every kind. At Government land sales the land was often sold very much under its value, simply because the public had not been sufficiently informed of the sale, particulars of which were only published in the Gazette. The Oazdty was ty very proper repository for civil service an* nouncements and matters of registry for use in courts, but it should not come into competition with the Press of the Coiouy, which was often asked to publish as news announcements of telegraphic and postal changes which ought to be paid for as advertisements. It was highly necessary that the impounding notices should appear in the newspapers published in the districts which were concerned, instead of being buried in the Gazette. The public would never see them if they were not extracted into the local papers,' T}xe Qgverpmept, in fagl, for what was useless, and were doing tho newspaper press an injury at the same time, The newspaper press was an interest which was third in importance in the Colony. Wi hj the exception of the mining and agricultural interest, there was not one in which more people were employed ; and the Conference thought they had a right to ask that they should not be handicapped in this disadvantageous way. The subject of subsidising the press for supplying European intelligence will be deferred to another occasion,

From Wellington wo learn that yesterday morning the New Zealand Press Conference waited upon the Premier and the Colonial Secretary, presented the resolutions passed by, and urged the views of, the Conference. The Premier admitted the desirability, in the interests of’the public, of reducing the press) wire charges to the lowest possible figure, and without pledging Ministers to the specific reduction asked for, promised to consider the matter favorably, and return an early answer. The Government would also carefully consider the other points raised, and would give a reply to them as soon as possible after the present press of business was past.