The Globe. FRIDAY, MAY 19, 1876.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 598, 19 May 1876, Page 2

The Globe. FRIDAY, MAY 19, 1876.

"We have once more to allude to the folly of newspaper writers, venting their spleen against public men by implication. This system of abuse toward the present Premier of the colony has been indulged in by the Lyttelton Times on many occasions of late, but never reached the climax until the 15th iiiafc., the article which appeared in i.htt journal on the day in question probably being the most choice sample of this style of writing. " Set a thief to catch a thief," is one of the earliest of English proverbs, and thus, from the intimate acquaintance which the writer of the article we refer to professedly has with the remarkable personages he so gushingly introduces to notice, one might be led to imagine that he must have once held high office in connection with the guild of " Dodgers." "We can comprehend why certain newspapers, which are classed as funny, are allowed a latitude, in the way of comparison, that is considered out of place in journals of a higher character, but we cannot understand the continuous hurling of implied accusations against the personal and political integrity of any person whatsover, and more especially such as are directed at Sir Julius Vogel, who, in the position in which he has been placed, by the elective voice of the whole colony, should be at least secured from direct insult and abuse. What we should particularly like to know is, with what object a respectable journal gives prominence to such a collection of inferences as the one we are now speaking of. We do not think that such procedure is calculated to advance the Lyttelton Times, or any other newspaper, in the opinion of the public, as the natural supposition is that no statesman who bad the temerity to differ from them in his political views, would be exempt from like treatment.

We quote the following as a specimen of the extreme length to which writers in journals, at tho present day, are allowed to go with impunity : " Otago and Canterbury will have to " stand alone against the policy of " gradual spoliation and dishonesty." No reasonable being perusing the leader in the Times would fail to arrive at the conclusion that the comparisons therein instituted between Sir Julius Vogel and " Barry Lyndon," and the " .Artful Dodger" and the " "Wizard of " the North," is a circuitous means of implying that the Premier is neither more respectable nor honest than the characters named, and that trickery and dishonesty is a portion of his nature. Now we decline to admit that such language is either fair or just, and we have no doubt that the public will agree with us when we stigmatise these insults by implication as a mean and cowardly method of deriding the character of the Premier, utterly unworthy of a journal ot such pretensions as the Lyttelton Times. We have not the opportunity of enlarging upon the truth of the assertion that Ofcago and Canterbury will have to stand alone, &c, but we very much doubt but that when all the little intricacies in the working of the Provincial Government of Otago expenditure are unravelled it will be discovered that the " suffering" province has had as much of the colonial monies as any.

During the past few months a system of free advertising theatrical and other performances in advance by means of telegrams, for which newspaper proprietors have to pay, has sprung up to such an extent as to become a perfect nuisance, and we are much surprised at the Press Agency lending itself to transactions of this kind. It is bad enough, howr ever, for the papers to have to disburse wire charges for what may be correct, viz, that Miss Amanda Amaryillis Augusta Jones made a successful debut as Lady Macbeth, or that Mr Montague Pitzhenry Montmorency Green received quite an ovation for lu3 splendid pourtrayal of Hamlet. These may be facts which the friends at a distance of these artistes, or the playgoing public, may be interested in knowing; but when a vivid imagination is called into play, and what might have been, or what was wished, is stated to have actually occurred, then it seems to us that the Press Agency is adding insult to injury. The foregoing remarks have been suggested by a short but expressive telegram sent from here and published in the various papers of the colony, and we must saj that we have not seen such careful economy of the truth as is displayed here in so few words. The telegram appearing in the Otago Daily Times of Wednesday says : —" Ohristchurch, May Hi. " Simonsen's Opera Company performed " Offenbach's opera bouffe, « La Perichole,' " last night for the first time in New Zea- " land. It wps a grea+ hit." 'Nov,; we think it is p.'et'y well known here that so far from it bei:ig a g-eafc hit, the ope-a on Monday night was a most wearisome ad'air, and also that it was produced to a very

small house, even as compared with those which have assembled during the not oversuccessful season. It seems to us that the last few words oi the telegram smack considerably more of the " generous " treatment than the truth, and it is somewhat hard that the newspapers of the colony should be called upon not only to pay for, bat also to circulate, what can only be termed —putting it in the mildest form possible —a fiction.

Joint-stock newspaper enterprises in New Zealand appear to be in a bad state just now. An Auckland correspondent of a Dunedin paper telegraphs as follows:—" The Southern •' Cross newspaper balance-sheet has revealed " the usual queer results. The directors' " report stated—The undue competition " which was stimulated by the establish- " ment of a fourth daily journal, with a " complete printing plant, in this city, in- " volved your directors in an increased " expenditure without any corresponding " equivalent in revenue. Your directors " have great satisfaction in being able to " report that the reserved resources of the " company were more than equal to the " emergency, and that the same difficulties " which marked the business of last year " are not likely to be met with in the cur- " rent year.—A nominal balance of £550 " profit was shown on the books, but there " is at present really an over-draft of £2BO. '' The directors said they would carry over " that balance, and not declare a dividend, " whereat some shareholders complained " very bitterly." It was but the other day the Guardian in Dunedin voluntarily wound up its affairs, and the heading paper in Wellington lately narrowly escaped a similar fate. The North Canterbury Nevus has come to signal grief, the whole of the plant and goodwill realising eighty pounds only. Humours are pretty thickly spread about that another establishment of the kind in Canterbury is already tottering to its fall. We are sorry to have to chronicle these mishaps, but it is only another instance of folly on the part of those who think that a newspaper can be started and successfully managed as easily as the opening of a pie-house or an oyster shop, and with about as much fitness from previous experience as would be necessary in profitably conducting either of the abovenamed businesses.