The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 1868.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 134, 9 June 1868, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 1868.

On Tuesday evening last, whilst the Provincial Council was occupied with the consideration in Committee of the Estimates, on the item 'Printing and Advertisements, £I,ooo ' coming under discussion, Mr Dorme — evidently revelling in the opportunity thus afforded him of retaliating upon the Press for their suppression of his speeches — proposed that the vote be reduced to £750, which was immediately negatived by the better sense of the House. As it is not customary to report debates in committee, the remarks made by the hon. member for the Grey were not published, and our readers therefore remained in blissful ignorance of the slanders which he uttered, out of the fulness of his spleen, against the three local journals. As, however, our contemporary the Colonist has drawn attention to the subject this morning, we are anxious, for ourselves, to repudiate the insinuations, or rather accusations, which Mr Donne thought it not unbecoming to make from his seat in Council against the Press of this city. Mr Donne was understood to say that the Government spent the public money for the sake of supporting three papers, when one would suffice for the Government advertisements ; that if the Government were to withdraw its patronage in advertising and printing from any one of the three newspapers, it would go down (or shut up) at once and die ; that Government advertisements were inserted in these papers simply for this object, and that the papers were leagued together to secure a perpetuation of this abuse. The object which Mr Donne had in view was obviously to convey the idea that the three papers, being thus, subsidized by the Government, and owing in fact their very existence to its favors, were compelled by these conditions to wink at or palliate any shortcomings whatsoever on the part of their patrons, and thus rendered disloyal service to their constituents and the public interest generally. The unequivocal reception which these statements met with from the Council was sufficient proof of the value which it attached to them, and we feel confident that it is quite as unnecessary to appeal to the public at large in refutation of this very gratuitous and transparent slander. With regard to our relations with the Government, we would state, speaking for this journal individually, that we are not leagued, directly or indirectly, with any other newspaper in this city in order to enjoy the prtronage, that a newspaper, the average weekly circulation of which exceeds 6000, and which finds its way to all parts of this province, is justly entitled to a fair share of the Government advertisements, whatever, they may be worth ; that the public reciprocates the advantages derivable from advertising in a paper possessing such a circulation, and, in conclusion, we would add, that even in the event of a withdrawal of this assistance, we should trust to be enabled to carry on the existence of the Evening Mail without resorting to those dodges — to use his own elegant phraseology- — with which Mr Donne acknowledges himself to be so conversant.