Manawatu Herald THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 1892. Frank

Manawatu Herald, 11 August 1892, Page 2

Manawatu Herald THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 1892. Frank

The newspaper which is under Ministerial guidance in Wellington, has endeavoured, in and out of season, lo get its readers to believe that the members 'of Her Majesty's Opposition were doing their best io wnsi-e the lime of the session. This is undoubtedly what the government desire should be thought, as did not the hon. Mr McKanzie declare that the New Zealand Times was the only reliable newspaper in the metropolis, as its staff always came to ihe government for direction ? It must te a pleasant duty to the editor, this being directed to assert, with all the force at his command, that black is white, and white is black, just as Ministers choose to view the matter or . occasion. It is not only a peculiar duty, but unless the writer is at one in feeling with his superiors, it is risky, more especially if previously it has been his duty to view polities from an opposite standpoint. For this wa have, evidence in the leading article published by the Wellington morning journal on Monday, in which the writer, ignoring some statistical information published on the. previous Saturday, bewails, to use his own words "the appalling number of useless and dreary speeches which have fairly swamped the few fine debaHrig efforts made during-the Financial discussion." In this we heartily agree, but the absurdity of such a statement appearing in the N.Z. Times lies in the fact that on Saturday, in a return showing the number of members who spoke during the Financial debate, it conclusively proved that instead of its being the Opposition which wasted the time, it was the government side who were guilty, as only twenty three members of the Opposition spoke against thirty-two of the Government party ! The Ministerial editor will have to exercise just a little more Bupei> vision for the future.