THE BARTLETT ILK.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 60, 9 November 1915, Page 5

THE BARTLETT ILK.

BOROUGH COUNCIL RESOLUTION At last night's meeting of ihe Borough Council some opinions were i expressed' ■ ns to the" advisability of-piih-' lishing such stuff as Ashmead Bartlett (the war correspondent who has figured so largely*Jin: ; the public £ye or late) expresses-in'his articles and le'&H tt&'es. The matter .was broached by His Worship the -Mayor,, who moved : "That this Council desires to enter an emphatic protest against; the unpatriotic and ill-iaclvised utterances of irresponsible war correspondents of the Ashmead-Bartlett type, and others who. apparently for selfish ends, are doing their best to damage their country's interests and the interests of our Allies; that other local bodies be asked to make a similar protest, and that the Prime Minister be asked to cable thus resolution to Mr Asquith. requesting that it be given the widest publicity in Great Britain, and that the Government be asked to take steps to prevent irresponsible individuals in New Zealand cabling messages home reflecting on the Home Government, which they claim to represent as the opinion of the majority of the people of the Dominion." His Worship said the papers in the Old Country were publishing rubbish, and it seemed that the Home Government were not strict enough when they allowed men to make a living out of lecturing, although they had not been in the firing line for more than a few minutes. Cr. Hunter said if all local bodies passed similar motions such articles would be suppressed. If the boys on tho Peninsula saw the articles they would promptly say "There is no chance," "We are losing," etc. Only a few days past., said the speaker, he saw where a Christchureh man had cabled Home stating that the people of New Zealand did not agree with the English Government, ami if the local bodies passed such resolutions and they were cabled to England the people would then know the Dominion had confidence in the Imperial Government.

O. Thompson said he did not exactly wish to oppose the motion, hut there were a lot of truths in Bartlett's articles. He had had stories from returned soldiers, which were worse than those of Bartlett's. The Mayor: If the young men at the front wish to send letters home to their parents they are censored, yet Bartlett's stories are not censored. Cr. Thompson: What Harriett says is the truth. Cr. Hancock: Such men as Bartlett are worse than spies. Cr. Hunter: The publishing of such articles will do a lot of good in Germany. The motion was passed unanimously.