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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5483, 23 October 1878, Page 2

■'Mk.iGe6boe McLean, who has an excel- 1 lent-nose for smelling a rat, discovered about ten days ago that there was a little job being'perpetrated which seemed seriously to affect the liberty of The Press, and every way to be a bad bargain for the Colony. ;It was rumored that the clean-handed Government which consists altogether of immaculate men had arranged with three of the colonial papers for the exclusive use of a special telegraphic wire between the hours of 8 p.m. and 2 a.m., thus giving those three papers a monopoly as against all the other journals in the colony, and enabling them to forestall all others, particularly the evening papers, in the news market. So Mr. McLean, having got scent of the job, moved on the 15th October for the production of the correspondence relating to the transaction. The whole correspondence only consists of a few pages of foolscap, which might have been copied by a single clerk in an afternoon. But though the House agreed to the motion, the papers did not make their appearance. Mr. McLean, with praiseworthy persistence, kept knocking at the door, and every day he got for answer that the papers would be laid on the table immediately. It was not, however, till the evening of the 21st inst., at the moment that the discussion of the Native Statement, which lasted all the evening sitting, was commencing, ‘that the papers were laid on the table. When Major Atkinson spoke about their being printed, the Commissioner of Telegraphs intimated that the subject was so trivial that it was not worth the while. Great was the astonishment of the honorable members who were able to run their eyes over the documents to discover that they revealed one of the most indefensible •transactions, not excepting the Tapanui Kail way Contract, of which any Government has boon guilty. Briefly, it amounts to thin. The Auckland “ Herald,” “ Otago Daily Times,” and “ Lyttelton Times” applied to the Telegraph Department for the use of a special wire, of which they were to have the absolute control, and no other journals to have the right to use it except with their consent. Dr. Lemon reported that to carry out the proposal would entail an expense of £4OOB per annum, ’and he gave other good reasons why the transaction should not bo agreed to. It appears, however, that the immaculate'’ Ministry, in spite of the advice of the head of the department, has agreed to it, on pecuniary terms very much lower than he advised as possible, and disregarding various conditions which ho considered essential. Yesterday, at the' afternoon sitting, Mr. McLean forced the consideration of the subject, which the Government was so anxious to evade, by moving the adjournment of the House, and finally the Government had to agree to print the.correspondence. When printed it will no doubt provoke a more extended discussion. If this affair conld have been adroitly smuggled through by the sly Commissioner of Telegraphs and his astute colleagues, the Press Telegraph Agency, and the whole of the journals in the, colony, would have been placed at a ruinous disadvantage, and the confidence of the public in the Press have been justly and necessarily destroyed. Now that the murder is out, we have little doubt that the interests which would suffer by the transactions will make their voices heard. We trust that, short as the remainder of the session is, members will bo found who will not suffer this exceedingly suspicious affair to bo smothered. Thanks are duo to the determination of Mr. McLean that it should not be smothered, and we sincerely trust that he will expose the whole affair, and drag it to tho light of day.