TROUBLES OF A JOURNALIST.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2467, 14 February 1881, Page 2

TROUBLES OF A JOURNALIST.

The “ Waikato Mail ” which was started about nine or ten months ago, at Cambridge in the North Island by Mr Joseph Ivess of newspaper fame, has changed bands, Mr C. O. Montrose, sub-editor of the “Auckland Star,” succeeding the enterprising originator. In the “ Mail ” of Saturday Feb. o, Mr Ivess bids the Waikato public a warm adieu. He says When the paper “ was published it was intended to make “ it a thoroughly independent organ of “ public opinion in this part of the “ colony, but experience has proved “ that there are so many wheels within “wheels in the Waikato, so many “ dodges and combinations, so many “ rings of all kinds, that unless a paper “ is prepared to become the slave of one “ and all, its chances of success are “ small indeed. In taking leave of the “of the public of the Cambridge district he does so with groat pleasure. “ for the treatment he has received at “ the hands of those who chiefly con- “ trol our public affairs here has been “ of the most scurvy kind.” i \ The causes of Mr Ivess’unpopularity are thus referred to :

“The offences charged, that ap- “ parently caused such a revulsion of “ feeling, were first of all that he made “changes in relation to some of his “ employes, who had managed to make “ themselves popular, and for whom a “ very large amount of very wasted “ sympathy was evoked. In an}' busi- “ ness it is usual for the employer to “ be allowed to be the best judge as to “whether those associated with him “ are competent to fulfil their duties or “ not. In this instance he found some “of his to be either ignorant of the “ ordinary duties of a country editor “or wholly unreliable through liquid “ causes. The friends of these “ gentlemen commenced their crusade *■ against the “ Mail” by withdrawing “ advertisements, and attempted inti- “ midation by so doing. Then another “ grave sin by this paper “exposing the absurd farce that was “ perpetrated at the Cavalry races. “ That exceedingly moral, but certainly “ hyper-sensitive body, the Cambridge “Jockey Club, were so offended at the “plain and truthful report that ap- “ peared in the “ Mail,” that they re- “ solved to give no support to theob- “ noxious journal, and actually refused “to insert the announcement of the “ local races in it. Becau’se forsooth “ the description of the unique spec- “ tacle of three horses in a race baulking “ at a flight of hurdles, and one of the “ stewards at their tails laying on to “ them with a stockwhip was described, “ and how by dint of muscle and whip- “ cord one eventually broke down the “ barrier and let himself and his com- “ paniaus through,the paper is ostracised “by a few of the chief performers in “ the ludicrous play r . They r found more “ pliant chroniclres, and rewarded them “ accoi’dingly. The next heinous crjine “ of which the paper was guilty was “reprinting from the “Lyttelton; “ Times” an article relating to the sale “of the Patatere block. The opinions “ expressed were not those of the pro- “ prietor,they were merely reprinted for “ the purnose of enabling the public “ here to know what the views of the “ southern portion of the colony were “on the subject. : The tenor of it was “ to condemn the Government for not “ directly purchasing from the natives, “ instead of allowing private companies “to do so, and urging that settlement “ should be promoted by the State in “ lieu of permitting speculators to derive huge profits therefrom.”