MINISTERIAL RETICENCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 31, 7 January 1885, Page 2

MINISTERIAL RETICENCE.

A Wellington paper complains of the reticence of the Ministry with le<*ard to official intentions nnd movements. It inquires, Why make a mystery of everything? We caunot . even guess, unless it be for the sake of preserving a uniformity of idiotic procedure. Eor to obtain information, from any New Zealand G-overuineur, liut especially from that which at present holds portfolios, is an awful task. There may not be mncb to tell, and perhaps still lest to the credit of the Departments, but. what is, m the way of commonplace information, should be nupplied with a> much readiness as is .shown m the other colonies and m England. Here it is with the utmost difficulty that a Minister or Minister's man can be got to auswei a question concerning matters wnich,in more sensible places, are set down m memoranda and sent to the Press as a matter of course and without asking. This reticence is practised to a ridiculous extent iuthe case of all New Zealand newspapers, but for a newspaper m opposition to Sir Julius Yogel there is no hope except m the extra vigilance of its staft. Ministers, who keep back information which ought to be given, apparently forget, m their animosity to the newspapers, that it is the public who is the sufferer, and which has, there! oro, a good right to complain. We could uame hair' a dozen recent instances iv point. As for the stupid mystery about the Hinemoa, it has been deemed worthy of notice merely because it exemplifies the method pursued by tho Government with re~ gard to the simplest matters as' well as those of more importance.