"PRESS DETERIORATION."

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 339, 3 September 1875, Page 3

"PRESS DETERIORATION."

Mr. Stout's return for Caversham was tn every sense of the word, a victory lo: toommon sense. The local Press, attempt** lo narrow the issue to Abolition or.;N* Abolition, hoping that unpopular Proviti Cialism would help the return of their pu. tron. Mr. Stout himself, confident in b'n success, was not unwilling to accept bat tie on so clearly-defined a proposition .hoping that by so doing ins success mfgh be interpreted to mean a public reactipi in favor of Provincialism. Now the figh ,f is over, there can be no doubt that tin 1 .question stated. to be the all in JUion or.JNo Abolition—was hardly con "sidered. The 232 who voted for Mr Stout are not necessarily Anti-Abolition . istfs.although.theymay be considered to b( protesters against on unjustifiable forcing forward of measures they do not under ttand. The real battle from the first on ' set was between Brains and MoneybagsMoneybags being waited upon by servility in every shape and form. We by n( means say that the unsuccessful candidate —of whom we know nothing—has nc brains. What lie had, however, wen never considered. It is creditable to Pro vincial humanity that acknowledged an: proved brains won. . In the struggh i now going on in Wellington, which is t< result in an entire remodelling of oui forms of government, the country cannol ■pare from any side of opinion the ables , . men. Nothing, was so utterly contemptible as tlie attempts made'by the Govern inent organs to keep out Mr. Stout, sim ;ply because he is an able exponent of Pro ; rinciulism. All the thunder, abusive anc •'•■• Barcastic, which could be manufactured by the local press to demolish one whe dared to beard them, and all the sicken ' ' ing praise lavished upon the rival candi date, failed to influence a vote —not ever, s Caversham new chum could be caught To those, who have watched with regrel _ the deterioration and increasing subser- . vioncy to capital of a majority of Duuedii . press Writers, the result of this electior should be reassuring. It proves beyond doubt that, these writers having given uj «hy influence for good they inherited, th< influence for evil they Would exercise ii .they.could is neutralized by the position : they .hold in the public estimation. Ii .'«■.••'■ addition to their inane writings the pbsi v -'• tion they hold is not very scrupulously ■«-- Used. During the last few weeks tele -.-'■' grains have' beensuppressed, have beer • ''^':SK(^<id,.'and oven freely manufactured t< }\. '-"'fav.qr the individual views and interests 0 Z '_ those they, delight to-fawn upon and fori '?.' time idolitarize. When newspapers s'too| to such despicable tactics, it is well .t.hej j .:• should find 1 their true-level: ; In" Dunedit i. they have not taken long to find it Th< Caversham election has shown in unmis -■ takeable language what that level is. Sc long as good reporters can be had, anc leng-suffering shareholders find plenty o; lnoney, such papers are still useful for bu siness purposes, and in a deteriorated .. sense for advertisers. Beyond this, they • are as innocent in act as man before he fell, although their sins in intention mav be legion. .The latest dodge the managers of these newspapers have adopted r.o gain a little artificial reputation outside the Province • deserves to be recorded. Members ol "• their respective staffs are encouraged to 'j\ hire themselves out as special correspon- ; .dents, ..telegraphic agents, and the like. 'v' Added.to the duty of collecting and for- •'; Warding news in general is: the special du- • ty 6f' puffinp their own respective papers, : and furnishing epitomes 6:1 their lending articles and free criticisms upon them. These are forwarded to Iyttelton, Wellington, and Auckland, to appear in the '. .various Provincial papers. Of course the Dunedin papers reciprocate, and do the needful for their weak brethren in the North—to make things i'air and equal, .prepaying their own messnges. We give a few instances, culled from the special telegraphic correspondence of 80-called " own correspondents." The ' New Zealand Times' is informed from Dunedin— The critic* this morning s.re pretty severe on DarroVßHamlet. The 'Guardian' makes it very warm for him. * A. few lines under occurs- the. sccorid .edittefl squabble : The ' Guardian' this morning, in referring .to the statement of the 'Daily Times' that .''already Otago has decided in favor of delay," Bays it was not awarb of this before, .bpt was under the impreSiiion that it was 'only Mr. Sbout, the 'Daily Times,' and a few people at the suburbs, who were in favor vof the delay; but of course as the ' Daily Times' is Dunedin pccordimg to its own account, why then Dunedin and Otago are in favor of delay. The same paper next day is informed that:-

The ( Daily) ' Times' considers Sir George Grey's speech on al>olition very puerile. It considers his remarks clap-trap and rubbish —the allusion to the Chief Justice and "my dear Bowen " as all bunkum. Yet another day -. The ' Guardian' has severe articles this morning on the exorbitant price of butchers' meat. Another paper has the following precious bits of news, on a string like onions : ' The ' Guardian ' this morning blames Mr. Stout for the way in which he takes advantage of hiapoartiptf foaddresßismall butside meetings. ' " "" ' Mr. Utting, the sub-editor.of the 'Guar dian,' whileigoing home at half-past four this morning, discovered a three-roomed cottage on lire.

We wonder why the correspondent does not tell us who is ' Guardian chimney-sweep. TKe next paragraph goes on to say : The 'Daily Times,' after buttering up the Yreaa Agency ad ttameam, turns round this morning. ... This is how the * Guardian' does the needful for the others : The Canterbury 'Press' this morning has ' »most severe leader. . . . • ! What was the result ? Did a star fait f And again in the same issue : The ' Times' this morning has a sub-leader on the 'Otago Daily Times -recent article ro> garding the Press Agency. It points out that the same telegram was supplied to the 'Guardian'and 'Otago Times,' and that while the former produced from it.a clear, conciso report, the latter made an awful muddle. Thjs, to us, is really disgraceful to journalism. We have merely picked from the papers immediately before us. The same thing ip to be found in every issue of certain of these so-called leading papers. Even in this modified attempt atartificial importance it will bo seen our Dunedin contemporaries are not very likely to reach practical benefits. We would comjnend the directors to seriously consider whether the cost of these specious telegrams should not be charged against the salaries of. the writers, unless indeed they are Iransmiftea—in- .accordsn<»o,;wUhthe spirit of the age—on credit.