CURRENT TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 97, 2 August 1910, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS

COALS TO NEWCASTLE. A newspaper correspondent complains that the London papers give little attention to New Zealand news, instancing the fact that the Times had no New Zealand news in five of its issues. It is a very good thing for the few people of a young country to assume that their doings are of importance to Great Britain, but the fact that a mere section of London itself contains more people ana provides greater 'happenings than the 1 whole of this country, may have something to dio -with,- the paucity of New Zealand news. Most people wonder how it is possible to fill newspapers every day. The newspaper man wonders how he is to find space for all the news that is crying out for print. The London Times (or any other London paper) necessarily deals with, matters that would •be considered of vast importance in New Zealand in the briefest possible way. In an issue of a London daily, one may sometimes find a couple of columns of two-line paragraphs, the subject of each of which might occupy a couple of columns in the papers of a small community. Prom the point of view of the heart of the Empire the quotation of the price of New Zealand butter is of more importance than the no-confidence motion in the House of Representatives. In fact (entirely from the Britishers' point of view) very few events in New Zealand are worth recording. It is unnecessary for colonials to be hurt at this. The London papers do not welcome everyday news items from any 01 the for the reason that London is the hot-bed of news, and the papers want all their space to deal with vital matters. We have no wars, insurrections or political changes. "No news is good news"; we push along without a suspect of local horrors; and we havei no nobility in whom the British public would be interested. The Britisher has necessarily a vague idea of New fcealand, and he cannot be blamed for it, but his knowledge would not be greatly extended if the New Zealand cable news in the London papers was more frequent. Here' are subjects of cables sent from Home—what chance has New Zealand of retaliating by sending a similar selection?—" British Politics," "American Meat Trust," "Suffragettes," "Crippen," "Wireless Telegraph," "Cotton Crisis, "Train Disaster;" "Disastrous Hurricane," "Japan and Korea," "The King-" Then there are murders and suicides, frontier wars, elopements of countesses and so on. We shall have to grow a little before we can hope to get a daily page in The Times.