THE Pukekohe and Waiuku Times PUBLISHED TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER, 1, 1914 WHAT ABOUT IT?

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 226, 1 September 1914, Page 2

THE Pukekohe and Waiuku Times PUBLISHED TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER, 1, 1914

WHAT ABOUT IT?

"ll'c nothing extenuate, nor set down amjlu in malice."

Wk borrow the heading from the introductory sentence of a letter ; fig nod " Liberal " which appoirs els-whore in this issue. Ordinalily ; a letter of this kind ought to end its existence in the waste paper basket. ! But although we are supporters of MrMassey, arid of the Reform plat- j form, we aie always ready to extend the use of our columns to ! Liberals lor fair coimueut Since j tliw#*" Times " is the only piper f published in this district it is our plain duty to be impartial, to be, in fact. .w.!.■-sided—not one-sided. Asa matter of policy we prefer not to I take sides for or against letter- i writers, Init to preserve neutrality so I far as our correspondence columns ; arc concern'd. Still we can haid'y j allow " Liberal's " letter to pass i into priut, unanswered. The com- ! lnent may lie lair, but. the letter is j foolish To cover one's movements ; and to mislead the onciuv, by word \ and by deed, is one of ttie tirst necessities in warfare. It cannot be j known what situations might have arisen in Sauioi it it had been j shouted from the housetops that the i New Zealanders were going there to : assist in clfecting tin capture of the [ Islaud. l.'oitibly the victory might not have been a bloodless one. If! in mishaiiug the enemy our own! people are misled also —well, thpy | cannot be said to suiter. Anyway i all their sullering could not be placed in the balance against the ! endangerment of the life ol' a single j soldier. It is not breaking conlidenc to say that the newspapeisof j New Zealand have a woiking agreement with the defence authorities as tj which class of news shall and

which shall riot be published. And it says something for the integrity of the Press that no newspaper, so far as we know, lias as yet tried to get ahead of its contemporaries by any breach of conlideneos. If

'• Liberal's " bullet was intended 1 to injuie Mr Massev in the eyes of the people of this constituency we | are afraid that it will fall sadly | short. The Prime Minister stands higher in the regard of the people i of his own electorate, and of all New Zealand, to-day than he did at any previous perio i of his political lite.