The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1867.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 231, 2 October 1867, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1867.

Our two contemporaries have so fully enlarged upon the pressure which has been placed upon the journals of this Province through the extraordinary action taken by the Government with reference to the trausmission of the telegrams of European news on the arrival of the mails via Suez and Panama, that any further allusion to the subject in these columns might almost seem superfluous. We are, however, desirous that our subscribers and the public generally should be made aware o£-the fact that no effort has been wanting on the part of the proprietors of. this journal also, to supply its readers with such information at the earliest date possible. For a considerable period the proprietors of the three local newspapers contracted with the Government for the supply of telegrams of European news from the Bluff and from Wellington respectively, on thebi-monthly arrival of the English mails at those ports, at the rate of of £150 per annum. It was soon discovered that the summary thus furnished was either very imperfect or altogether incorrect, and in many instances little better than a mere rechauffe of the news brought by the last mail. It was therefore determined by mutual consent that notice should be given to the Government by each journal of their intention to discontinue this arrangement, which was accordingly terminated. The proprietors of this journal afterwards intimated to the Government their willingness to [pay £4 per month for two short telegrams giving the principal topics of interest amongst the intelligence brought by each mail. This offer met with an immediate refusal, and a second proposition to take a telegram of the news by the Suez mail only, to be forwarded from the Bluff, at the rate of £25 per annum, was made to the Goyeminent, and was equally unsuccessful, it being plainly intimated that the two telegrams must be taken as heretofore, and at the Government price, and that no other arrangement could be recognised. Finding therefore that the Government turned a deaf ear to these very reasonable propositions, we then communicated with the proprietor of the Evening Post at Wellington, requesting him to forward us a short summary of the news by the two mails as a * press message.' And here it may be as well to explain that it is understood that telegrams shall be furnished to the Press of the colony at rates lower than those charged for ordinary messages, since it is evident that no newspaper could afford to pay at the rate of 2s .for ten words, including address and signature, for the transmission of such lengthy telegrams as the most meagre Bupply of European intelligence would involve. The Government however, it would seem, had anticipated the possibility of such an escape from tbe dilemma, and had issued peremptory orders that no English news should be forwarded to any newspaper, except under the old stipulations, and as prepared by the Government agent. The summary, therefore, which was presented at the Wellington Telegraph-office for transmission to us was refused, and our correspondent immediately acquainted us with the fact, adding that &ny telegram of English news must be paid for beforehand aa a private.

message.

Determined to test the matter to the utmost, we then communicated with our own correspondent at Wellington, a pri-

vate individual, making a similar request, and this Was met with a like response, even, one solitary item of information as to the name of Sir George Grey's successor, which the Secretary for the Colonies had promised to transmit by the next mail following the letter which notified the Governor's recall, being also refused transmission on the arrival of the last Panama Mail.

We have thus endeavored to show our readers that the fact that do direct telegrams of the news from Europe have beeu furnished iu the columns of this journal is in uo wise attributable to any want of regard fbr the interests of our subscribers, but solely and entirely to the unjust monopoly which the Government seeks to exercise in the working of the telegraphic department, which, be it remembered, is maintained at the public expense, and which is, nevertheless, made the means of debarring the public from enjoying those very advantages and conveniences to which it was primarily intended to administer. It may be highly satisfactory to the amour-propre of the Government to constitute the Postmaster-General, by virtue of his arbitrary control of the telegraphic wires, the 6ole news agent of this part of the colony, and thus compel the Press to submit to a state of vassalage and dependence which might bear apt comparison with the position occupied by our brethren of the Fourth Estate in France and Russia, but if these are the ideas of which Government entertain of their duties as Ministers^ the Crown, we feel assured that the result will not be more satisfactory to themselves than their policy generally is to the country at large. The Stafford Ministry will hardly immortalise itself by the persistent attempts which it has made to offer every conceivable impediment to the newspaper development of New Zealand.