THE ASTONISHING “ENTERPRISE” OF THE “LYTTELTON TIMES.”

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1719, 23 August 1879, Page 2

THE ASTONISHING “ENTERPRISE” OF THE “LYTTELTON TIMES.”

[from a southern contemporary.]

The “ Lyttelton Times” has had the impudence to comment on the want of enterprise on the part of this paper, and others, with respect to publishing a telegraphic report of an election address last week ; but we are happy to see that it has come to sad grief over it. It has been obliged to acknowledge that half of its own report of the speech was supplied by the courtesy of one of the very papers referred to, and another of them now threatens _ it with a libel action for its remarks, which turn out to bo perfectly void of truth. It is really carrying bounce a little too far for a hired thing of convenience like the “ Lyttelton Times" to boast of its enterprise. A paper which is mainly supported by public funds had better say as little as possible about its enterprise. Considering that the “Lyttelton Times” only pays £325 a year for the use of the special wire, while the “ Press" pays £1225, and that the former is paid at full rates for columns and columns of Government advertisements which the latter publishes gratis, it would be hard indeed if it did not give the public something for their money. It is true

the “ Lyttelton Times” gives the Government of the day the exclusive use of its leading column* in exchange for its subsidy, but the public gain nothing by that. On the contrary, thoysufferby it,because they aredeprived of that free discussion of their affairs, which formerly made the “Lyttelton Times” the most independent and trustworthy paper in the colony. The “Lyttelton Times” ought really to be compelled to publish verbatim telegraphic reports of all the electoral addresses and other matters of general interest, and its loading columns ought to be in the hand* of a public official of discretion and ability. Then it would bo a good Government publication, instead of being a bad one. There are many journals on the Continent of Europe which are carried on in that manner, and they serve a very useful purpose. In its hybrid state between a Government Gazette and an ordinary newspaper, the “ Lyttelton Times,” though, is simply a nuisance and a scandal. Its monoply of the special wire is a great hardship to many other papers, and through them to the public. The night before last, for instance, the Southern papers were kept out of their Northern telegrams, because the “ Lyttelton Times ” had possession of the wire from Ashburton, and we frequently suffer from a similar cause. The public bare to pay stiffly for the questionable advantage of supposing a Government organ at Christchurch, and they have a right to expect that it will do its work well for the money. A Government messenger might as well boast of his smartness in sweeping out a Minister’s office as the “Lyttelton Times” of its enterprise in publishing telegraphic reports.