The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. FRIDAY, JULY 23, 1915.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 23 July 1915, Page 2

The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. FRIDAY, JULY 23, 1915.

A COUNTUY PRESS. On .March 1-1. IUIO, The Chronicle passed under the editorial ;ind managerial control that it is under to-day. A lew vicissitudes have been experienced in the comparatively long period of Jive years now elapsed, alike by The Chronicle and t!ie district it serves, but undoubtedly both have progressed during the period. II heartier support had been given to the journal by the lar•inor.s ol the district more progress might have been made by both. .Many staunch friends of The C'hrollick , -nv <j( the farming da.-*, but amongst the farmers are .some of opinion that the paper th;;t (low not see eye to eve ■with them on national politics must not be .subscribed to. This is a narrow view, and not helpful to anyone. The 'real interests of Levin and district lie in forwarding closer settlement and the promotion of .such small industries as may be profitably pursued in the place; not in bickerings ;ihout Liberal or Reform platforms. Our article ;>f March IJ, I'JIO, is as appropriate today as it Avas on the day of iUs first publication, and by wny of illustration we reprint it to-day. It runs: Whetiieu the country or the city Is the more important part of any .State has been a vexed question for some thousands of yeans, and such incomparable characters a.s Demosthenes and the O'Regan have disturbed much air in unsuccessful efforts to say the last word on the subject. In these times, however, the dispute is more academic than violent, and the period is dead wherein politicians and others could incite these two .great (section of people to rage furiously over the relative methods of town and country, and the .superior rights or the one or the other to special consideration from the Government. Twenty years ago. when disputations of this sort Avert , more frequent- and bitter. Sir George Grey—who was wont to expend some of his flowers of oratory in strange channels—made in the House oi Representatives the apt statement that those who were continually contending that the country was "the very life-blood of the towns" should not overlook the fact /that although the country was the lifeblood, the city w-as the heart Avhicli kept the blood pulsating. When the great pro-Consul uttered this simile it was scoffed at, for party purposes, and the truth of it was left lor the people of later Limes to realise. To-day, fortunately for all, the interdependence oi town and eomntryi is clearly realised by the progressive minds on both sides, and there is a commendable desire shown by the bulk of A'ew Zealand Parliamentarians to approach all largo questions from the viewpoint of all Xew Zealand. (These facts notwithstanding, there remains a need for puolic opinion, and a public voice, to represent the..purely country viewpoint and to utter the crystallised truth evolved from country experiences and cogitations. All the wisdom is not of the city, nor is sane judgment confined to the chief centres of population. What better than a country Press comid express the needs and desires of a rural or semi-ru.ral population? Or by 'what method shall an agricultural and pastoral population obtain the wide publicity of its opinions necessary to impress and convince those in high places,' if not through a journal which is actually of, and which exists by support from that population? The city Press, ns an exponent of city opinions, and incidentally as a promulgator of leading ideas, is-'a charming and pleasing jieeeesity to its chief constituents, but those country dwellers who imagine that a newspaper published at Auckland or Wellington, or sf me other comparatively distant city, mil suffice

to safeguard their needs and to give them local light and leading are mistaking a will-o'-the-wisp for a more substantial luminary. The city Press "is" the city Profits; its views are circumscribed by its civic boundaries; and the country Press is every whit as much a necessity to the country as the country Member of Parliament is. This, then, is the answer to those who ask what good end is tserved by them in giving support to the newspapers published in their midst, instead of con-fining their subscription to the larger and more diversified city newspapers that they .may procure by waiting a few hours longer on eacli day. It is the city Press that magnifies into "a national need" the theories and protestations of the "leasehold party' to give an obvious illustration. Possibly the contention is true in regard to the majority of the purely .city population; but it that should prove to be actually the case, the stronger \s the reason for the country population having an articulate mouthpiece to make known its philosophies and experiences on they and kindred matters. A pastoralist and an agriculturist both would shrink from saying wliei.her a city boot manufacturer should rim his business on co-operative labour or by piecework, for they both wou'd feel diffident because of their inexperience of such cases. But no such diffidence marks the city dweller when land tenure sy.stemti are discussed; and fconio times lie is led or followed by his Press until a sectional contention is megaphoned into what erroneously seems to be a preponderance of public opinion. These are most inioortant reasons; but there are others, also, why country dwellers should support then , country Press. It gives them the newis of the events that happen .in their midst, and makes up in apposite interest what it may lack in sheeted vi luminousuoss. Surely it is ol more interest to the dwellers in the JJorowheniia district to find details in their district daily newspaper of the doings at Levin and Shannon and .Uau.ikau. <"• Otaki or Paraparuinil. than to read at three- times the length, of the happenings of Christdiiirch, or Auckland, or Wellington, sandwiched in with statements a<s to tho number iriils in the boots of a Pimlico policeman, statistics about the number of "old junk" doalers in .Sunthport, or other allegations scissored Iroin London newspaper in order to lill unnecessary columns in one or two of the large New Zealand newspapers.

There is local news to be got outside Levin and The Chronicle is determined to have that news ere its newness lade. In lliiu respect our readers may help us at times by sending to this office any little item of social or general interest that may have come to their knowledge. >xsvin is our headquarters, but our field is as wide as our circulation. Tho principal desire of the present management i.s to make the llojonheiiua Daily Chronicle a chronicle ol the chief events of thi.s widely-settled district, while daily giving full prominence to the news of the outside world which reaches the olfiee by cable and telegiapb. The opinions and views of our readers also will be .sought, and no one who writes us need fear that his letter will be rejected because it may traverse si,me editorial opinion. Primarily The Chronicle is a newspaper, and propared to give publicity to any reader'.;, expression ol opinion. While trying to lead it will not make the mistake ol being dogmatic, and its hope is that Ks readers will recognise, this for truth, aud be content to read its news ooliTiiniN for thoir information, .uid its loaders lor their guidance or for criticism, as the case may to them seem most necessary.