Gagging the Press.

Manawatu Herald, 24 March 1892, Page 2

Gagging the Press.

The Government have made one more downward step, they have attempted to " Gag the Press." The Dunedin Star has had the first blow and the following extracts from ita article explain the why and the wherefore : —

" Apparently the Ministerial fiat has gone forth that the Evening Star and its readers are to be boycotted. We have committed the unpardonable sin of opposing the policy of the Cabinet, and revenge is taken by the determination to withhold Government advertisements from our columns. Intimation to tills effect was received recently from the Mines Department ; and we were officially informed a day or two ago by the local Lands Office, that instructions had been received " from Wellington not to advertise in the Star any more," but only in the Times, Globe, and Witness. The excuse possibly may be that publication in one evening paper is sufficient ; but the motive is transparent, and the action taken is entirely on a par with the contemptible tactics which throughout characterise this A very Liberal Administration. The independence of the Press in New Zealand is a thorn in the side of Ministers — a standing menaoe to the maintenance of their reign of misrule. Only fifteen papers out of the one hundred and fifteen are said to give them any support, and the one hundred are to be made to feel the weight of the Ministerial hand. It is evident that if they had their way the freedom of the Press would be stamped out, and newspapers • not of

the " right colour " suppressed. As things are, fortunately, to do that they are powerless. They may for a time, at the public expense, keep going ricketty organs whioh advo* cate whatever they choose to propose, and besmear them with fulsome adulation ; but they cannot silence the intelligent voice of the country, nor succeed, either by bribery or intimidation, in gaining over to theiv side a Press distinctly hostile beoause it realises danger to the Colony in their policy and conduct. As to ourselves, we are in a position to regard with entire indifference the withholding of Government advertisements. We should have been silent on the subject but that the public interests are,- we conceive, largely concerned, not only as to the vicious principle on which Ministers are acting, but in their ignoring, especially in regard to notices from the Land Office, the paper which has by far the largest circulation in the city and suburbs — we may say, in* deed, in the provincial district. The object of advertising, it may be presumed, is to give the greatest licity to the advertisement; in the. case of the disposal of land, to secure that the knowledge may bo widely spread of what lands are open for application. Ministers pervert the public funds at their disposal for this proper purpose to purely partisan ends. Do they suppose that publio opinion will long tolerate such gross misfeasance, or that papers notoriously paid to do their more than equivocal work will command either respect or influence?" The Star goes on to refer to Government announcements appearing in that evening's issue and continues: — "It is not our intention to allow our readers, who number many thousands every evening, to be without proper information as to the sale and disposal of Crown lands or other important matters which may form the subject of Government advertisements. At the direct loss, therefore, involved in the space occupied, we publish this particular notice, and shall in future transfer from thecolumns of our morning contemporary such Government advertisements as we consider, in the interests of the public, sh uld have circulation in the Star. Onr constituents shall not suffer becau. c ;o we have incurred the displeasure of the powers that be. The present Ministry aptly illustrate indeed, what Shakespeare said as to " men armed with a little brief authority." In the confidence - which possibly they may find misplaced—that they have a majority in the House that will support them through thiok and thin, they appear

faj have altogether lost their heads. The flagrant abuse of patronage in the public service and in nominations to 10-ftd boards and other local bodies is liotorious. The sole qualification Tequired for any appointment is to be of the " light color," and citizens of standing, repute, and experience are shunted from positions of trust and responsibility in favor of obscure partisans. The attempt is, in truth, being made to Americanise our institutions in the very worst sense of the word. The caucus is already instituted in the National Liberal Association, and the next move is, if it be found at all practicable, to muzzle the press. In certain of the States, newspapers inconveniently outspoken have been bought up, bribed, or the staff and proprietary summarily disposed of. Ministers, we might presume, regret that the latter method is not available here. Their powers, fortunately, are limited to the control of the Government advertising, and they intend it to be understood that this will be given in of support or jurisdic*ioas silence as to their misdeeds. However insignificant a paper may l)e, nowever limited its circulation, if it goes in red-hot for Ministers, it ■will be subsidised out of the public purse. Business principles are to be entirely ignored in the matter. Local officeis are no longer to be allowed to advertise where they know the best value is to be got for the money by the greatest publicity being secured, but, under instructions from Wellington., must confine themselves to MAnsterial organs, where such exi^t ; the extent of the circulation being held of no account. Thus do Ministers hope to convert to the purposes of the Great Liberal Party some of the 100 papers now in opposition, and to materially injure where they cannot influence by bribes.