PUBLIC JOURNALS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5427, 19 August 1878, Page 2

PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sin, —Mr. Saunders depreciated the Presain New Zealand the other night in the House, and said that in England there was a powerful controlling body over the whole business of the State that was wanting in New Zealand. He alluded to the pure and incorruptible Press that existed there. The Press here he consi lered a creditable body, but not for a moment to be compared with one from which there issued such papers as The Times, the Standard, and the Daily News. Xu New Zealand it was well known that the papers were merely commercial speculations, and that many kinds of influence could bo brought to bear upon them. We have in England heard similar general accusations levied against the very papers Mr. Saunders extols, and in respect to what fell from him I desire to make a few remarks. It is not generous to levy a general accusation against a class unless the accuser is prepared to support his charges by instances in point. In argument it is not now a days allowable to call your opponent hard names, and if Mr. Saunders publicly implies that the Now Zealand Press is corrupt, I should be glad to hear of some flagrant and glaring cases that ho can bring forward in support of this assertion. If this abuse of its power by the Press exists here, by exposing its rottenness Mr. Saunders may tend to import a more healthy tone into its publications. But if it is correct that the Press of a country is really a faithful reflex of the public opinion in that country, and that a low and debased tone in the Press is caused by the existence of a lack of high quality in the tastes of its readers, —then, indeed, is New Zealand much to bo pitied. A superficial acquaintance of ten years standing with a few of the newspapers in the colony inclines me to the belief that tho cause of truth has been fairly well upheld. If party warfare in politics is really the boon that the Attorney-General declares it to be, at least it has the great drawback of causing one-sided views of political subjects to be advocated in tho Press. There is a lukewarmness in moderate “Adullamito” journals that readers who are political partisans object to ns much as Saint Paul in another sphere,— l am, &c., y,