THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1873.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 234, 29 August 1873, Page 4

THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1873.

In one of those easily written but excessively valuable essays and conversations published by air A. Helps, one of the characters is made to say, " What " a fearful power this anonymous jour- " nalism is !"■ It is not necessary at this time to prove, by argument, the power, but it may be worth while to enquire a little into the reasons for the anonym ousness universal in newspaper literature. In small communities, where everybody, without being fairly chargeable as being a busybody, knows the ins and outs of Jack, lorn, or Harry's office, it is pretty well understood who writes for the local paper ; but, nevertheless, the presumed anonymous nature of the paper is generally conceded, and it is recognised as possessing an individual character of its own. It is true that newspaper proprietors are responsible to the law if they insert anything libellous, or what they know to be untrue, but, as private individuals, they are not answerable for any other inserted. Simply, they offer a certain commodity to the public—be it bad or good—and are supported according to the approbation or otherwise of that public. The primary reason why writers do not append their names to newspaper I articles is, there.can be no doubt, that the main object of such articles would be lost. The fair valuation of the arguments adduced would depend entirely upon the critic's estimation of the.knowi> writer, instead of on their intrinsic merits. In summing up the question, Helps says:— . Anonymous journalism is a question of expediency. As government of all kinds becomes better managed, there is less necessity for protection for the press. It must be recollected, However, that this anonymousness (to.coin a word) may not only be useful to protect us from any abuse of power, but that, at least, it takes away that temptation to discuss things in an insufficient manner, which arises from personal fear of giving offence. Then, again, there is an advantage in considering arguments without reference to persons. If well-known authors wrote for the press and gave their signatures, we should often pass by arguments unfairly, saying, " Ohj it is only so-and-so: that is the way he always looks at things," without seeing whether it is the right way for the occasion in question. . ... . . .- We may become jwise enough and well-managed enough to do without this anonymousness: we may not. How it would astound an ardent Whig or-Radical of the last generation, \ if he could hear such a sentiment as this—as a toast, we will say—''The Press: and ; may we become so civilised as to be able to I take away some of its liberty." 1 This could not be better put. The ' practice of modern days is in accord-

ance with, this view, being merely a tacit consent to adopt the best expedient : writers are not taken to book for what they write, but the paper is. The Otago ' Witness/ in inserting, a letter in its last issue—headed, "Mr." " de Lautour v. the Water Squatters " of Mount Ida," —setting these well recognised laws entirely at defiance, has, in our opinion, been guilty of a decided breach of courtesy due to any branch, however unimportant, of the Press.. The ' Gruardian ' sets our contemporary a better example, by refusing an authenticated letter of Mr. M'lndoe's, merely because it was a criticism on something in another paper, and should, says the editor, have been sent to that paper. We hardly suppose the management of the 'Witness' undertake to insert anything that is ; sent to them, considering the present state of the law of libel, so we must assume that the letter we refer to was not inserted without consideration. We should be very sorry, simply because Mr. de Lautour is a part pro-, prietor of this paper, to be held liable for all his utterances or actions as a public man. In the same way, we imagine, he has quite enough to do to answer for what he publicly says or dees, without being held responsible for our sins, suppositious or re&l. Probably if we, or a more powerful organ (say the ' Gruardian') were to insert a letter, written, as. one very easily might be, with real force, logic, and truth, headed " Mr., .Murison v. Mr. " Hawthorne, liector of the High " School," —rthe supposed letter attacking Mr. Murison of falsehood, &c, for saying what the ' Daily Times' printed in a late, article, our contempora y might see the force, of- our remarks. : '. ' ' ■

Such a precedent, followed generally, would entirely destroy the power of the Press. A. branch." of that Press should have been the last to cast the first stone. We should never have dreamt of refusing to insert the" letter if it had been offered to us, much as it would have been-to be regretted that our small space should be filled with such rubbish. To the poor fool, who the 'Witness' has been so cruel as to make notorious, we have nothing to say. His engineering ability, his utter selfishness, self- conceit, and vulgarity, place him out of the reach of our criticism. The Premier, when speaking on the Groldfields Water Supply, with all his knowledge of jealousies and consequent misrepresentation between districts, never even contemplated a possibility that has been now proved as actual, that a resident of Mount Ida—without information, without skill, and speaking, as he implies, as the mouthpiece of the water squatters —should assert that the public works now in progress in the district are as useless as an ordinary street fountain. We do not, however, believe that he is what he claims to be, the mouthpiece of others ; if we did, we should.deal very differently with the misrepresentations his letter contains. We do not think any two old residents in Mount Ida would act so treacherously as to endeavor the prosperity of those by whose energy and perseverance their own competences have been secured. We leave him, therefore, to his chosen place of hiding—to skulk behind hedgerows, and slander as he likes : we will no longer handle pitch for feai of defilement. Our contemporary has, howover, in. our opinion, been guilty of "a very serious dereliction of courtesy to us in the insertion of a personal attack on Mr. de Lautour for the contents of our article, and has sanctioned _ a gross outrage on the decorum of private life, by giving room to an invidious charge against an individual for what tbie attack itself admits he never said. Mr. de Lautour can, however, We imagine, when it is aworth his while, defend himself from any quarter whatever without any assistance from us. Indeed, if it had not been that a question was raised, placing in jeopardy the utility of the Press as a whole, we should not have noticed the matter.

received a letter from E. Oliver, Esq., M.P.C., stating that it was expected the engineer would visit the district in a few days, to survey the approaches to the Taieri river. Our correspondent adds that a bridge is very much wanted, and devoutly hopes that one, at no great length of time, may be erected. Is the Supreme Court his Honor Judge Chapman delivered a very important judgment on the application on behalf of Mr. R. Lew, of the Dunstan, for a new trial of the action M'Combe v. Low, on the ground that the damages £770 awarded to M'Combe by the jury in the late trial were excessire, and that they—the jury—had been misdirected. His Honor decided to refuse to grant a new trial. He said that he personally thought that the damages laid were excessive, but he had no reason to exalt his own opinion over that of the jury, on the contrary bethought that the jury's opinion ought to carry more weight. Mr. Haggitt, for Mr. Low, gave notice of appeal. Our wortby Mayor, Mr. L. W. Busch, has been duly gazetted a J.P. A few days ago Mr. Busch took the necessary oaths before the Resident Magistrate, Mr. H. W. Robinson.

Our lady readers will be sorry to notice by advertisement that it has been decided by the Masonic Lodge not to hold their annual soiree. The death of the Earl of Zetland, Most Worshipful Past Grand Master of Freemasons in England, is the cause why they are very reluctantly compelled to make this announcement. The soiree has always been held in very high estimation throughout the district —ladies and gentlemen often coming many miles to attend. We sincerely hope a Vail will be got up to offer some relaxation to the ladies who are Bingularly destitute of social amusement in Mount Ida. Surely our bachelors will come to the rescue, and give us an opportunity in our next issue to announce a Bachelors' Ball.

Clxde and Cromwell have announced their annual Spring Meetings. At Clyde, £SO is given: the best prize being the Dunstan Handicap, of 20 sovs., wifh a sweep of one bov. added. Distance, one mile and a half.— Cromwell has not put out a programme yet, but the 4th of October is fixed as the race day. The Dunstan meeting, as previously announced, will be held on the 26th of Sept. The annual meeting of the Clyde Public Library was held on the 18th. A Committee of-dye manages the institution. The, following is a summary of the Committee's report: —Number of subscribers, 60; number of books taken out during the year, 671; still in circulation, 42. The balauce sheet showed that £4l 12s. 9d. had been received during the year, and the expenditure for books, periodicals, &c, £3B lis. 5d., leaving a balance of £3 Is. 4d. in hand The assets for unpaid subscriptions, wuste paper, &c, were set down at £l6 15a. Bd., and the liabilities at £&; -■ ■,

It is notified in another column that, the Rev. E. Williams will conduct Divine service at Hill's Creek and St. Bathans, on Sunday, September 7.

Tile ' Daily Times ' in a late issue says : "In the recent suasion of the Provincial Council we supported the Tolmie Government in their action with reference to the sale of the Maerewhenua laud to Mr. Eobert Campbell, solely on the ground of an implied contract having been made, and on the necessity for keeping public faith." The offer, by Mr. Francis, of £15,000 to a Californian service established by New Zealand, and making Melbourne the terminus, is tantamount to a refusal to contribute. All that is open for new Zealand to do, therefore, is to conclude the arrangement for the Suez service via Melbourne, and make terms with New South Wales for a Californian service alternating with the Suez. By a telegram received from Mr. Samuel, in London, the negotiations for a Californian service appear to be going on favorably. New Zealand should take the advantage of both lines for the lowest possible payments. The survey of the light line of railway, up the Waiareka Valley, Oamaru district, will be shortly commenced. And also the survey of the linesin the Eivertoa district, with a viewto these ■important works being carried out as early as possible. The total length of the present projected light lines of railways is over sixty miles. The works of the Awamoka line are in progress, and it is anticipated that in the course of nine or ten months this line of railway will be in full operation for the conveyance of traffic. These works are being carried out by the Provincial Government.— ' North Otago Times.'