MR. HINE AND THE NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 139, 7 December 1911, Page 4

MR. HINE AND THE NEWS.

At Stratford on Tuesday evening Mr. Hine referred to an incident upon which we had something to say the other (toy. He said at Durham road last week that as a report on the sugar monopoly, touched upon by him at Stratford, had not. appeared in the Daily News he concluded it had been deliberately withhold On Monday we showed that Mr. Hine was perfectly cognisant of the reason why the report had not appeared, that the editor knew nothing about the matter till Mr. Hine spoke to him about it. and that the editor then and there offered to print at any time he desired the report, or any views he entertained on the subject, the first copy having gone astray unknown to the editor. Mr. Hine's explanation of the incident at >Strati'ord makes matters worse. He said, he "considered he was justified in saying that the letters had been suppressed because he criticised the Govei'Miu nt." He was justified in believing position perfectly well before he spoke of the matter at Durham road and made his unwarranted accusations, and because he. kn'ows as well as anyone else that we have refrained from publishing no

criticism of the Government, however strong and unreasonable; also that we have published full reports of the speeches of the whole of the candidates for four 'Taranaki seats, without regard to party, and have burked no discussion whether it was in favor of or opposed to the Government. Also that Mr. Mine and the other candidates have had published all the reports they have supplied of their speeches in the country. We have endeavored to be scrupulously fair to every candidate, and have given them more latitude than they deserved, and in doing so have probably trespassed on the indulgence of our readers, who must by this time .be heartily sick of the iterations and reiterations that comprised the reports and glad that ballot <!ay has now arrived. In face of this, wo have Mr. Hine—the same Mr. HLue who poses as a paragon of excellence, as the High Priest of Purity, as the deadly opponent of all that "is shady and underhand, the man who hurled the bombs of tammanyism, briber)', and corruption into the camp of the Government but a short time ago—getting up and telling the people of Stratford that he considered he was justified in saying that the letters had been suppressed because they criticised the Government! Mr. Hine could only be justified in thinking this if he disbelieved the editor's explanation he professed to accept at the time. The incident is small in itself, but it is sufficient to demonstrate how oblique the vision of an ordinarily decent chap can become by the repetition of party dogma and how much value can be placed on the "charges" he brings against those who differ from him politically.