The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27. THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8142, 27 June 1906, Page 2

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27. THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

The tragic happenings of the past , two weeks have so completely overshadowed everything political that the opening of the first session of the s new Parliamsnt to-day has almost 1 been lost sight of. In the whirligig . of time, however, death is but a circumstance, leiving its mark mayhap on the course of the events of the ! period, but staying their progress not . for a moment. The affairs of every- , day life, and the broader affairs of government, must be attended to j ist the same. Their course may be , somewhat interrupted, perhaps diverted, but only for the moment. To- ; day, therefore, Parliament assembles, for the business of the country must not be neglected, no matter how great the disturbing circumstance, and it is well that it is so. There is no doubt that the present situation is fraught with <*reat possibilities for the party in power as well as the party not in power. The interest attaching to the situation is no doubt chiefly accentuated by the unusual circumstance of the absence from the colony at the present juncture of Sir Joseph Ward, whose claim to the Pre-

mier.-hip has been generally recognised ; and espoused of late by several of the leading newspapers of the colony, There is, on the other hand, a large number of people who believe that the leadership of Mr Hall-Jones might not be unwelcome to the colony, There is no gainsaying the fact that a considerable measure of confidence is reposed in the Minister who has for so long and skilfully administered the Public Works Department, and on whose shouldors has fallen the burden of the duties of the present trying situation. Politics are full of intrigue, however, and the present presents a splendid opportunity for its hatching. Mr HallJones is not a hankerer after Ministerial powers and responsibilities, and nono of those possessing the present Premier's confidence would beat all surprised were he to retire from public life altogether as soon as he can be relieved from the position to which hi; duty to the colony has called 1 i n. It is to be hope.], however, such may not be the casa, That the future presents many ditliculties for whoever eventually assumes the Premiership is certain. The principal obstacle to be negotiated, in the meantime at least, is Cabinet reconstruction. The opportunity for the long-deferred reconstruction of the Ministry is now afforded, and whoever assumes the reins it is to be hoped that the strongest men in Parliament will be called into the Ministry. It is quite problematical what course the Premier will adopt when the House meets to-day. The generally - accepted theory that Supplies will he asked for, and that Parliament will then adjourn for a month, will, however, probably be found to be nearest the mark

WAR CORRESPONDENCE. Tele cabled news item sent to New Zealand papers a few days since, setting out that a confeience of newspaper people at Home intended to control war news in the future, has special interest for the colonies. About three-parts of the news that gets to the papers during war-iimo is untrue. Some of it is hysterical, some of it is pure " fake," and somn of it is gleaned by war correspondents from soldier-men who stay in camp, During the African war the news sent to New Zealand was more than unreliable. It was criminal. And the desperate haste with which news was sent from the front to Lin don papers made it possible for the enemy to know the plans of the tooconfiding officers who had " given the show away" to the correspondents. Many a good Britisher has lost the number of his mess owing to the unkind offices of the war correspondents. More than one great general has been ruined in reputation by the war correspondent. One has but to remember Generals Duller and White. Many a second-rater has become a public idol through war correspondents' eulogy. General Baden-Powell owed his tremendous vogue, not to the fact that he held a little town for a long time, but to the fact that he was praised by hysterical correspondents. He should have paid them a. " divy " out of the tremendous number of presents he got for doing his duty only as well as dozens of other officers during that war. It hurts us to have to hold the Jap up to eulogy, because some day we shall be very sorry that we strained the brown man to our bosom, but there is no dfmbt the Jap understood the value of keeping things dark during his bout with the Russians. He said little; lie alio ved correspondents to say less, and kept plugging away. Just as a sample of the driyel war-correspondents used to send in 1889:-

" Capetown, 20th October,—There has been a terrible slaughter of Boers near Mafckinp. Colonel—he was only Colonel tlicn—Bnden P >weU, commander of the Protee.to'ate Regimint,, feigned retreat, and thus drew a strong force of Boers over some lyddite mines. No fewer than l, r OO Boers are believed to have been killed."

A captain of the regiment, afterwards released by New Zeaknders from Rustenbe;'2 (.vheve, by the way, the invincible 8.-P. was underground ignin), stated that those mires blow up two Boer women, one old man and a child three years of age! So you see war news isn't always reliable. All the same we can hardly see that it is the duty of newspaper people to undertake to stop war news. It is the duty of the War Office. The reason for the decision of the great Eifi'lisli papois to take this step is probiblv that war correspondence is enornnu.-Iy expensive, and in the past, Ins mined many Home papers. The incve f e in cidilation is notsuffie nt t) vara it the great outlay.