THE NEW ZEALAND PRESS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume I, Issue 7, 15 August 1861, Page 3

THE NEW ZEALAND PRESS.

The charge against the Auckland press of giving a partisan colouring to its reports was eqaully applicable to the whole press of New Zealand. If self-government had increased the circulation of their newspapers in the colony and in the United Kingdom, to which 50,000 were sent in 1857, it had also modified their tactics. Before the Constitution Act came in force the Governor was the centre of all praise and abuse ; now each person abused the other, and the Governor sat enthroned in the midst in ease and dignity. In 1858 there were 15 newspapers published in the colony : two semi-weekly, and two weekly, at Auckland ; two semi-weekly, it Wellington and Nelson : two weekly, at Canterbury and Otago ; and one weekly, at Taranaki, Wanganui, and Napier. It was observed that two papers in one settlement increased political agitation, and lessoned hatred ; while, in settlements where there was only one paper, thepent up feelings of the unrepresented portion of the community were with difficulty restrained, for politics in New Zealand are very differently man. aged from politics in England. ”In the old country, men give and take ; in New Zealand, politics tear the community asunder, as most papers are worked at high pressure, and blows are struck at the tcnderest parts of men’s characters. Nevertheless the press abounds in talent, but it does not represent the mind of the colony so well as the Enghsh press does the people of England. There are several reasons for this. In England a proprietor of a newspaper is unknown out of his immediate circle of friends, and the articles in the paper express the sentiments of a section of the community, while in New Zealand a newspaper is always linked with its proprietor, and expresses his sentiments. The very independence of the press is injured by the articles not being sufficiently anonymous. Articles on mercantile, financial, and scientific affairs may be written by others, but the political leader expresses the mind of the proprietor. This gentlerr an as is well known, is an important political character, and often a successful candidate for public honor. Tims in 1856 the six provincial superintendents were cither directly or indirectly connected with the press; and if is absolutely necessary for all political aspirants, if they would achieve success, to connect themselves directly or indirectly with the fourth estate. It may be a mistake, but there is an impression on my mind that editors of newspapers hold a higher social position in England than in New Zealand, a result which is probably produced by the prominence of their position in the latter country, and the impossibility of preseving an incognito. An anonymous article like a leader in the Times, which cannot be interfered with by any disturbing personal feeling, carries conviction from the intrinsic force of the -writing ; but the power of an anonymous article in a New Zealand paper is seriously diminished, if not totally destroyed, by the impossibility of concealing the writer’s name. The press is, however, the only literature in the colony. Two attempts were made to get up a Review at Wellington, but the articles lacked fire, variety, and originality : besides the settlers are yet too busy cutting roads, bridging gullies, and tending cattle and sheep, to find literature a necessary of life, and good literature only flourishes in the shade of luxury and opulence.— Thomson’s Siorp

of New Zealand.