FLOATING A NEWSPAPER

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 237, 9 October 1914, Page 2

FLOATING A NEWSPAPER

SOME HEAVY SINKERS ATTACHED

IS THERE A COMPANY?

ARTICLE NUMBER THREE

IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST

IS IT A LEGAL CUML'ANY.

Our thoughtful loaders who have road the "Times " for the past two and-a-half years \vi|J do us the justice of agreeing that tho " Times" has put tho public interest ihst iu deciding what should aud what should not bo published. It is sometimes very difficult to decide which are and which aro not matters tho publication of which would best servo tho public interest. So far as our dif fereuces with Mr Joseph Henry aro concerned the issuos nre as plain as daylight.

An urgont call south lias hurriod us with this nrliclo and prevents us from dealing as wo would like to deal with the gravo irrogularities that aro accompanying this attempted Dotation. The documents that have been loft in tho* possession of those who have paid their first five-shilling call aro curious, For instance :-

I.—The money is sant to " tho directors " but there is nothing to show who tho directors are.

2 —There is nothing to show whether tho nominal value of tho shares is £l, £5, or £IOO. 3.—There is nothing to show tho objects or scopo of the company itself, or what provision is made for tho share allotment.

On October 17th, 1912, Mr Henry wrote us a letter which wo refused to publish. We did so upon the grounds that it was a personal attack, calculated to injure the prospects' aud reputation of a professional man then practising in Pukekohe. It attributed discourtesy aud a lack of readiness to oblige, aud suggested that competition in the profession would make a considerable improvement in the bearing of the person attacked. By direct implication it suggested that this gentleman was unfitted by nature and by training for the profession in which he practised. We declined to publish the letter then ; no good purpose would be served in indicating the name or profession of the gentleman who was at that time singled out for Mr Henry's lash. Apart from any legal responsibility for publishing such a letter, wo hold that it is not the function of a newspaper to submit itself to bo used as a medium for tho ventilation of private grievances, or as an instrument to damage tho reputation and prospects of business men. At the time we had no personal acquaintance with the gentleman assailed, but we believed that so far as his "qualifications by training" were concerned that he stood high in tho estimation of his fellow practitioners. This then is the class of lettei which Mr Henry sought to publish but which we held and still hold that it wcnild be quito improper to print.

•I.—There is nothing to show what tho share capital of tho company is to be. s.—There is nothing to show win is holding tho money, that las boon ! paid, whether it is banked in a trust account, or, (what it is to 1)9 employe J for.) All that most pjoplo know is ! that somo strango canvasser camo i and got their money. Surely in these matters, when a public com- | pany is proposed to bo formed, tho utmost good faith should be shown. On Wodnesiay we had a search made and find that the so-called printing company does not exist. No prospectus or articles of association I have boon iiled and no such com- ! pany has been registered. We are ! legally advised that beforo agreeing i to "apply" for shares prospective I shareholders should havo been fur- ! nished with particulars of the uomi iual value of the shares, tho amount of tho share capital and the method of calling up tho same, as well as the objocts and scope of the com--1 pany. Wo are further legally advised that unless those particulars were given, vm uxly xi:i;i> those WHO HAVE 11EEN INDUCED TO (10 INTO THE PROJECT PROCEED Ml ITR'iUER j HIT THEY MAT WITHDRAW THEIIi j " APPLICATIONS " AND HUE lOR A HEi i cmi of the five shillings already paid.

Turning from tho matter which Mr Henry regarded as being fit to publish (but which wo regarded as quite improper) we will briefly refer to tho class of news which Mr Henry expected us to keep ou', but which in the public interest we felt we could not suppress. A resident of Mauku district was charged by Mr Henry, who was county councillor for the riding, with having broken the by-laws by riding on the footpath. Tho woman in question hotly retaliated, and in a letter to tho County Council quoted dates and times, giving instance upon instance in which it was said that Cr Uonry had himself violated the very by-laws the observance of which he was endeavouring to imposo upon other people. We could see no good reason then, and we can see none now, why that letter should not have been published. We had reason to believe that the charges were true; and so far as we know tho truth of them has never been deniod. Fortunately for us most public ruou take a just view of tho duty and responsibility of public men. But there- are somo —a very few, happily—who feel themsolves bitterly aggrievol if we do not submit to their judgment as to what should bo inserted and what should be omitted.

Text of our offer jvill appear next issue.]

NEWSPAPER MAN'S VIEW. This business, dear reader, is a very trying and unploasant one for such peace-loving people as we aro. And so we turn to the fragranco of a friend for refreshment. Yesterday morning an uplifting sort of letter came. It was from the managingpartner of the Taumaranui Press Limited, and formerly editor of the bright King Country paper, the Te Kuiti Chronicle. He writes:—

" Congratulations on the effective stand you aro making re opposition paper. Somo people aro nevor satisfied and on the first complaint are ready to ' stop ' their ad. or their paper. I always tell my friends that yours is a model of what a country newspaper should be and to find peoplo wanting something else gives me a bit of a shock. Where is human gratitude' A newspaper cannot pretend to please everybody, and if it tries to give all the local news and gives favour to none it is as much as can be reasonably expected. 1 shall follow with deep and almost personal interest the doing of yourselves and tho opposition." That is tho whole letter with the addition of " My dear," and " Yours Faithfully." Wo blush a little that our experienced newspaper colleague should value our efforts so highly. It is Inexperience clone which does not understand the difficulty that newspapers, and country newspapers in particular, have in so holding the scales that justice and fair play are motel out impartially. Wo have yet to meet the journalist who, rightly or wrongly, sometimo and somewhere, had not to withstand assault. But dear, dear. It must bo good for us.