Shall Discussion Be Stifled

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 97, 11 May 1937, Page 7

Shall Discussion Be Stifled

FRANK TllUE.

(To the Editor.) Sir,— Can we do without publie diseussion on publie queetionst That is what the whole-hog supporters of the present Government shouid faee up to !and anawer. The vioienee of the excierie against the New Zealand Press beeause the papers said with justification that he had been rewarded for political eupport f ar beyond any service ne was capabie of rendering, does not stand alone, The Prime Minister, forgetful of his role of Father Christmas fhrowihg atound the heavy imposts ffom the t'axpayers, threatened to punch the newspapers or their owners on their no'ses, In keeping with the ferocity of the former New Zealand Worker against most folk, including Labour leaders of Other l&nds, its successor, the Standard, is exciting its readers against the naughty ' ' capitalistic PresS." Oue vitrlolic article itt the issue of March 25 the writer asks for his readers to ' ' hasten the process of self-destruction by a degenetate Press. ' ' So f ar as one tiould learn the bad, naughty papers had failed to use approved headlines in reporbiag that a Palmerston North engine-dfiver had told the Hon. Mr Sullivan that for three years on end he had gone to his work on almost an empty stoniaeh! Then the Hon. Robert Semple did not run over a wheelbarrtiw, neither did his car break down; nor was ifc fcrue that his car which did not break down could not be repaired beeause of ihe 40-hour week. Beeause of these gross charges, which if you are a partisan will not veqmre to be proved, there is a warrant for an alternatlve service, "The whole position is the harbinger of the selfdestructiott/of the Press as we have known ."it,1* "The radio should unhesitatingly be Used to ©xpose the falsifcies which the Press eoncentrates on disseinination through the COuntry.'* "The people receive from the Press a completely wrong standard of values « , , , and th© Press receives from t,lie people a gross overpayment for a minus service," This from a paper costing fifty per cent, more than the papers it is attacking, and minus all the width of news the daily papers eupply so cheaply, is amusing. The sam© outcry against needed discuasioa of publie questioiis has been evidenced in yoUr colhmns. Mr Robert©oa drew attention to the Railway Department running Bunday excursions te Napier from other partB of the North Isiand then free from infantile paralysis, and commented on the inconsiatency of one department ©nforcing precautionhry methods, while another department went out of its way to carry children to aa, infected district. Immediateiy he was charged with attacking the Government," when probably he gave no thought to Mr Savage and hds colleaguee. « The debate on the Government 's intrusion into house building ied to further outery» 1£ there eannot b© praise over a sincere attempfe to supply a questionable need by questionable methods then there should be complete silence, save the needed movements necBBsary to wind up the building societies and the extraction of further taxes to pay for the great slap-dash experiment. Not evea one of the despised landlords would venture to suggest to Mr TeSchemaker-Shute that no publie oMcial should take him or anyone else to pasa judgment upon their properties ©xceptiug in their presenee and nntil their side of the story was heard, It was established in your columns in the height of the depression that as a general rule those who paid littie or no rent so abused the premises that gave them shelter that seores of pounds would have to bs spent to make them fit for fresh occupaney. As for the elderly widow who asked in vain how she was to obtain possessiqn of her property used by semeone else without payment, should it not be said that tho Government proclalmed the Fair Rent Act was for the proteetion of landlords whos© just rights were being evaded, just as much as for tenanta who might be unfairly treated, The lady ought to be helpefi to test her case in the Cottrts, and the publie should know the result. I voted Labour beeause of the promise that burdens on wage and salaryeariiers would be lightened. The polltieally-raised exchange remains uaaltered, inflaming wool prices to Tecord beights, giving most to those who en»ploy the leAst labour. Every purchaser of neeessities from overseas pays and pays and pays for this glaring iajusbice. The acting-Prime Minister tells us that a few hotheads in Wellington willed the general strike in 1913 which might have caused dire bloodBned. Yet not heeding that lesson, the Government is forcing all employees to become unioniste, paying far moro in levies than do teachers and others, and concentrating dangetous and previously unequalled power in the hands of an irresponsible junta in Wellington. Every movement for the centralisntion of power almost anevitably proceeds to supprfess individual opiniou. That tendency is apparent in this Dominion.

Newspapers are not strong unless they gain the goodwill and support of the people they seek to serve. O'Hagan answere, "What is thc duty of a '

journalist?" "He ought to be a teache'f, fearless in propounding truth; a watchman on the hill lower, keen to anticipate and ptompt to proclaim fclie approach of aggression , against the rights of his f ellow-beings. " If he performs these services he is entitled to the protection of all men and of all creeds and opinions Who have an lionest interest in the Commonwealth. — Yours, etc.,

Hastings, May 10.