The Globe. FRIDAY, MAY 16, 1879.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1634, 16 May 1879, Page 2

The Globe. FRIDAY, MAY 16, 1879.

For a body composed of business men the Chamber of Commerce certainly manages its own affairs in a most un-business-like way. At the quarterly meeting yesterday, a long discussion arose upon a subject introduced by Mr. Caro. It appeared from what that gentleman stated that a telegram from Christchurch, speaking very freely of the commercial troubles in this city, had appeared in a Dunedin paper. This telegram, it was contended, both by the gentleman who brought the matter up, and the speakers who followed him, was likely to do a great deal of harm commercially to Christchurch. Mr. Caro thought the telegram had appeared in the Dunedin “ Morning Herald.” A pointed question was afterwards put to Mr. Caro as to whether he know which paper it was published in, and he replied, “ I think it was in the Dunedin ‘ Morning Herald ’ somewhere about the 25th April.” Now, before proceeding to show that Mr. Caro was altogether wrong as to the paper in which the telegram appeared, we desire to comment upon the peculiar method adopted both by Mr. Caro and the members of the Chamber in dealing with the matter. It ought to have occurred to anyone making such a statement as Mr. Caro, and casting blame upon a certain paper, that the proper course before doing so would have been to have procured a copy of the telegram to lay before the meeting, so that censure —If deserved —might rest on the right shoulders. As it was, nothing of the kind was done, and the whole discussion was based upon a vague kind of recollection on Mr. Caro’s part as to the journal in which the telegram appeared, which, as we shall presently show most conclusively, was entirely and utterly unfounded, As our readers are probaby awajr# there are two distinct agencies in

this city through which telegraphic nows is collected and forwarded. They are the Press Agency, and the Press Association. The representative hero of the Press Association is the “ Lyttelton Times.” The telegrams to the “ Morning Herald ” in Dunedin proceed from the first named source, and those to the “ Otago Daily Times ” from the latter. Now a charge —for it was no loss, however vaguely put—of forwarding untruthful telegrams, more particularly on so important a matter as one affecting the commercial interests of Christchurch, is a very serious one, because it throws discredit not only on the paper publishing it, but on the agency through which it is sent. In the present case the charge has been made publicly by a member of an important body representing the mercantile interests of Christchurch, and so far as the paper which has been mentioned is concerned, has no foundation whatever in fact. No such telegram as that stated by Mr Caro over appeared in the Dunedin “ Morning Herald,” nor was it forwarded through the Christchurch agent of the Press Agency. But it did appear in the “ Otago Daily Times ” of April 23rd. Hero is the telegram itself, which appears in the “ Daily Times ” of the date above given:— “ Christchurch, April 22nd.

“ There seems to be a kind of commercial panic in Christchurch. The names of several reputed and actual insolvents for largo amounts have found their way into the papers, and rumor is busy with the credit of several large firms. There is an uncomfortable feeling about the place that a great crisis is at hand. One firm is stated to be in the hands of the Banks to the tune of several hundred thousand pounds, and if it goes it must drag down smaller people with it. It is impossible at present to say what truth there is in the rumors, and a threatened libel action against two papers for speaking of a certain meeting of creditors, makes people cautious of letting anything out.”

Thus, as we have pointed out, through the hasty and unbusinesslike way in which this matter was made public, an injustice—the full extent of which the members of the Chamber are probably unable to understand —has been done both to the “ Morning Herald” and the Press Agency. It has gone forth throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand, that the Dunedin “ Herald” has published mischievous and untrue telegrams. Mr. Caro had plenty of time to discover what paper the telegram really appeared in. The meeting at which the subject was mentioned did not take place until May 15, whereas the telegram is dated April 22, appearing in the Otago “ Times ”of the next day. Thus, with the files of the papers at his disposal in the Chamber, Mr. Caro had ample opportunity of bringing the actual paper containing the telegram before the Chamber, as he ought to have done before making the charge. Whatever age Mr. Caro may be in the flesh, lie states himself to be a very young member of the Chamber, so we may confidently expect that a future contact with its members will render him a little more precise. He should not confuse papers that obtain their information, according to Mr. Caro, “from oxpresssions of opinion made use of in public bars ” with papers that receive it from reliable sources. Newspapers have characters to keep up just as much as commercial men. If anybody had brought a charge againt the firm of Caro and Co., Mr. Caro, notwithstanding his commercial youth, would, in all probability, immediately place himself in a fighting attitude, and hit out to the best of his infantile capacity. The Dunedin “ Morning Herald” is supplied by the Press Agency with its information, which is obtained from the best sources. If the firm of Caro and Co. obtains its commercial information from sources as reliable, its partners are sure in course of time to become fat and well-liking—commercially, of course. Decency should suggest to Mr Caro the advisability of offering an apology both to the Press Agency in Christchurch and to the Dunedin “ Morning Herald.”