GOVERNMENT " PATRONAGE" OF THE PRESS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1282, 7 September 1872, Page 4

GOVERNMENT " PATRONAGE" OF THE PRESS.

"Much ado about nothing" has been made in connection with the matter of Government advertising. The Wellington Independent publishes in fall the return called for by Mr Collins, and says : — * - Taking the return as an aggregate of the Government " patronage" in printing, we doubt whether any impartial person will think that Mr Collins has made much of a point against the Government in calling for it, unless he is allowed to select and reject such portions as may suit his peculiar ideas of wha'i is fair, as in the figures the hon member was pleased to read out to 1h» House. Ret fed inj the socaUed "patronage" of the Government^ it is worthy of observation .that the Opposition papers, where they are really deserving of the name of good advertising mediums, have fared well at the hands of the Government. The (Hugo Daily Timai received L 5 12 for advertising alone, or nearly double that paid to any other paper in the colony, while tho New Zealand Herald (Auckland) shows a receipt of L 385 against L2ll paid to ttie Southern Cross, or nearly cent per cent jnore than was paid to the latter journal, itself the property of a Minister. These are proofs of no unjust action. Perhaps it may not be out of place to nention that Mr Collins is one of a phalanx of the Legislature, from the leader of the Opposition downwards, who are p'oprietois of the Neton Examiner, whose manifold changes, and its virulent attacks and misrepresentation of facts rejecting the Ministry are the best evidences of its position and deserts. ' Certainly . uo one can ay that there has been a flagrant abuse

-of -patronage in printing and advertising at least, as a careful perusal of the figures will show. It must also be recollected when reading this return that a greatmany of the papers mentioned, and and which do not display very large amounts after their names, are mostly small and unimportant sheets, except from a local point of view, and are probably not published more than once or twice a week, and s6arcels find* the\r way twenty miles from Where they^are printed except as exchanges. As far as this journal is concerned, it is only just to ourselvos to explain that of the L 341 put down to the Independent for Government advertising, a very considerable portion of that sumtwas paid for advertising ',in, the Neio Zealand Mail, "which/ though belonging to the same proprietary, is Btill a distinct paper, with independent re» ceipts and expenditure, arid enjoying a wide country circulation. . : ' : ,