The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, MAY 3, 1910. "GRAPHIC" MISREPRESENTATION.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 3 May 1910, Page 2

The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, MAY 3, 1910. "GRAPHIC" MISREPRESENTATION.

Giukf has been caused to the "Auckland Graphic" because on two occasions tin* "IJorowluMiua, Chronicle" has trutlil'iilly stignwiti.sed tho "Jvnyveltt agitation" as a disgrace to tlie Auckland newspapers which li.ster it. "The Graj)hic," one of tlic blameworthy journals, lias girded in silence so lang that at last it lias broken. into public protest. It refers to a leading article on "The I'owelka. Scare" which .appeared in "The Chronicle" ;two wit'ks ago, and ihv suppressing the important fact that shortly before the article nppeared Powelka was at Large near Levin, the 'favourite organ of the Auckland mussel lnerchaii'ts has tried to hold "The Chronicle" up to ridicule. We have no desire Ito deprive "The Graphic" of any .added satisfaction that may come to it from a wider perusal of its watery witticisms thaiii they usually get; in proof of which we reprint the Auckland paper's article verbatim:— A VIRTUOUS EDITOR. The "Horowh'enua Chronicle," in all 'tilie glory of a leading article and leaded type, takes to itself much credit for the fact Mint when ,a Levin housewife had her wife robbed of meat and a fryingpan, and another "estinuvblu citizen" lost his roan horse, it abstained from working up a scare over 'these blood-curdling events, ft says that these events rnuskxl no alai •m because they wero recorded in an ordinary way: one in an advertisement, the oth'er in a paragraph. With a glow of conscious virtue, it contrasts its attitude over the frying-pan and the roan liorso with the attitude of the "Manawatu Times" on the Powelka panic and the Auckland papers on the Knyvett case. The loss of a frying-pan is a serious master. A good one, made of extra heavy peairl enamel, very durable, costs, elevenpence for an .eight-indi pan and one and a penny for a nine-inch. We do nob for a moment suggest that either the Knyvett caso or

tlie search for Powolka, oould

oqti.il in public interest tho loss of aiiii article so valuable, and tho temptation to work up a snare by means of big and flaring headlines must liavo proved almost irresistible, ".iho Chronicle" says it abstained from doing so in the true interests of the whole community. When we consider what capital a paper like the "Daily Mail" would have made out of an item of news so absorbing, we can only stand aside and marvel alfc the self-restraint of the Horowlienua editor. This .model .journalist, further says that when a most sensational report reached him from a. local centre, he had to refrain from printing it because further investigation proved, it to be untrue. Til this disappointment he has our deepest sympathy."

There could he iu> clearer proof than tlio foregoing extract .affords of the corporate objection to .sane criticism tliafc a section of the Auckland newspapers possesses. Because some wecessarv truths were tokl hy us .about tho attitude of "Tho Graphic." and another Auckland newspaper in regard to the Knvvett ease, tho "Graphic" wilfully mi.sivpresents tho position taken up hy tluV journal in regard to the Powelka scare. But the fact remains unchallenged that the publication of sensational reports, founded on imagination in several instances, had a great, deal to do with the ununwarrantable. panic which seized Palmer.ston Xorth, when Powelka was around thoso parts. Had there been puhlicatioii given in Levin to some of the sensational reports that were received at this office the more iinreasoning sectian of the population might have been aroused in the way that a large Palmerstonian section was "worked up." So, too. tho "Wellington example, of n. fistic quarrel in camp between two officers proved only a nine days' wonder, simply because tho Wellington newspapers refused, to magnify the trouble, revile the Government, and generally earn for themselves the brand of cheap popularity which serves "The Graphic" in such questionable stead. As for that paper's attempt to make "The Chronicle" ■appear ridiculous, wo can answer cheerfully (hat "our withers are unwrung." But we can afford "The Graphic" one scrap of comfort: though it has failed to make us look ridiculous it has succeeded only too well in. making Auckland look so, because, of the backing it has given lo the local firebrands who are fanning the blackcned embers of the absurd "Knvvett agitation."