GOVERNMENTAL GAGGING.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IX, Issue 480, 30 May 1867, Page 4

GOVERNMENTAL GAGGING.

[l'rom llio Daily Ti.ucs, iluy li.j 3f anything further than what is ul ready kim.vii required in pr>nf of the rush and dangerous game which £he Genera! Government are playing, a very str«v.<r su-picion un-dit he i'minih'i! o;i the i:"iiee to the j)ublic servants, which Mr has issued with iiiliauie attached. Even were it framed in mild terms, were it only a adm<-i;ithm lo public ofiieers n>»t i<> h t.'o ci'iurnir.ucative cmeeruinj,' i-d'nr !,ia;i','!i \sh'."i» they oilic!ally 1 V"n!,l ar u-a 3 susi/iciuu at such a tiie i'ai wi.-.m the ptrdio Serv;:a:s are >-.;• ■• la-11 ro iii the Mr Miitfa, ji-i-. ; : :eie is something mm'e Wan

eu-pnn.m ; tnere is a certattny that ; ; JhnEtiy which is so anxf u- to mm j ct'i.! its proceedings lias caibs i’.»: ! concealment. “Ail persons,' b> tin i notice reads., “in the service of tin i (fmverument «f New Zealandareheivb;. ; expressly warned not to give inform;: •j ti-tu relating to o.li dal matters to uni ! one out of the strict course .-f i.Jlicia ! -'1 uiy. directly or indirectly, witlnu-! the express Sr:net }■ -n of a resp msibh | Minister, and no < lii err shall make any j communication, diiectly or iiuiinc'ly.i to the Press, uj>->n any in 11.,-r aff-cli ,g i tiie Department in a nick lie s< rvei.i, mi ll;e 1 u-incss or the i Ulcers thereof, m | relating to the Public .Service, or !■ j ins own i lucial position or acts, mi unon ii-.y liiicai subject uin.vtr with New Zealand, without. the < xloots permission or authority of su -n! Minister. Every violation of this re ‘ gulation will be visited by dismissal’,' from toe Public Service, or such uthmi penally as the ciiciuiir-tatters of ilu-i case may demand."’ Here is some i thing more than a desire to prevent I ambiguous reports Hying about, to tin , prejudice ot the Press and the publico Here is something more than a desire; to save the public servants from being] worried Dr information, or to with-! maw from them the temptation to hi i 100 chatty about their official duii:s j Tia-re is m llris notice the plain evi j pi uce of an exc< ei in ’ anxiety to jim-] si i ve from publicity such information! as t!.e public s rvaols can give, Tlu-u not only ;i u anxiety but an abjec: | fe. r oi su. h publicity indicated by tin suingciit tone of the notice. In the] wolds of our Wellington correspon | dent, the public < dicers will, with such a notice, barmy be able “ to cousidei j their souls their <<wn. ! ’ | The notice is significant, coining j from lur Ztaliud, because no one bet | ter than himself can understand its] full skuubarioe. One who Ims so often] maintained that the Press of Mew Zea land uus a pcculiaily useful mission to iUiiil, OU tiCCOllul ut UjfcJ bicitlel'lsd I idtnie of ilie settlements id' the Colom devolving on tlie newspapers the almos. exciusive task of keeping the people politically informed, knows what he is doing. The lime has been when he would in it have hesitated to instruct Si'g public servants to give to the TresZ every information. He Uuiv attemptsi |f> “muzzle tie Pi css"' by withheld-! i*‘j fwui it itiiutuidUoil. Tan there i

hi any doubt that be is commencing the fight which Mr Fiizherhert last session foreshadowed? a fight, be it 'remembered, uiulenaken a Central Government craving for more power to deprive the popular Governments id what they already possess. It is a suitable accompaniment of a struggle of the kind to attempt to weaken'the Ifrcss by throwing a suspici m upon its sources and means of information, i'lie Press will probably contain as much, or inure man ordinary political intelligence, fur the precise reason ’■hat now the information is made a marketable commodity, there wiii he a considerable amount ot traffic in it. Ninety-nine out, of a hundred of the Civil servants have probably been under the notion that they bad nothing •d importance to keep secret. Tuts notion with its stringent terms will create the impression amongst them that they are the custodians of important so-creis, and they will not be slow —some in vanity, some in friendship, aid some in mercenary mood—in making use of their knowledge. Bat the Press, whilst iuruishing mure inlbrmaGou, will be weakened, because the rn-tice throws, and is meant to throw, discredit on all its statements, however true they may be. It is a sort o! s’i gin.i widen Mr diuiimrd attempts to ia.'tmi on the Pnss, to tell its readeib in ell ci not to believe ibe information it gives. Vve shall be to’.d possible iba T the notice embodies, in some sori, a rule adopted gem.-raliy in Civil Services. We deny ibis; whatever taav be the nominal rules iu other Colonies, ibere is a clear understanding that the Press is to lomc to officers in the pubi c service for much useful information with which to --apply tim public. In Close countries Woero (;,e liberty of tinPress is not recognised, such insiiuo!ions to tiie Civil eiuu.ts would nave an easily compreneiistide meaning Pat in a ;.ve country, where tin; G..-'-o ume.it is supposed be tiie em 1 -bmeiit of the po..pie's will, aim Aiu-re i m-;(> are no ncrign relation: ■ make si.ence i nuf.-m j : is uttori' n »-sib!c to unde. si..mi mat a G ■ ! •ei iuneat With bo-lie.-t iiiielillous o;r I ave any it-as.m ur gr.-uad wnatevo. I*" 1 ' Filed) a lear of publicity as ti e no- : ice a selonis. But with a G-iverniHem Mir)ing to st-12-; a power wnicli d ug ad belong to it, it is easy t ) umierstan Fieoe may be an iniense lear of iln | Pi- ess ami ol iiie people knowing to i much.