THE CASUALTY LISTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 282, 7 May 1915, Page 6

THE CASUALTY LISTS.

AX INEXCUSABLE DELAY. (By wire'—Own Correspondent.) Wellington, M.a>- 5. Some rather warmly worded complaints were heard in Wellington regarding delay in the publication of the full casualty lists Irom fie Dardanelles. Anxious friends and relatives had an idea that ill,-, lists of names were not i.e.tig made public as quicidy as they might have been, and recollections were revived of wluit occurred on one or two occasions during the South African war, when casualty lists were withheld temporarily in order that there might be a •iuir" distribution of new;:, between morning newspapers and evening newspapers.

'JL'hc facts, as far as they came under the notice of yo'.'.r correspondent, certainly supplied some -ground for complaint. 'i-.e list of oliicers killed and wounded was issued early in the forenoon and was posted lor puiilie inspection in various parts of the city, 'the public learned .before eleven o'clock that there had been 107 men wounded, and that the list of names would be published later. A statement that no list of men killed was available was posted about the same time, and your correspondent gathered upon inquiry that this list had not rt ached the defence authorities, though no official statement was made upon the point.The list of wounded men, in the form in which it finally reached the public, was ready for publication before one o'clock, but it was not placed at the di.-posal of the local evening newspaper until shortly before three o'clock, and then with a stipulation that it was not to be printed before 3.35 or posted for public inspection before 4 o'clock. The explanation of this delay is thai the Defence authorities were communicating with the next-of-kin of the men mentioned in the casualty lists, and did not wish any relatives to receive their first intimation of the news from the newspapers. This system has been followed as far as possible in the Mother Country, in consideration for the feelings of next-of-kin. But considering that the list was at the dispersal of the authorities, quite early in the dayi, the amount of delay that occurred before the public saw the name's seems to have he-en unreasonably long. The delay in the publication of the lUt of men killed is not yet explained, and the natural assumption i« that it has been slow in reaching the. hands of the authorities. If it had accompanied the remaining portion of the casualty list, and had been withheld for publication in the following morning's papers there would be no reason for very grave complaint; but it is scarcely conceivable, that anything of the sort has occurred, statements to the contrary notwithstanding. The public does not want news of this kind divided according to somebody's notion of fairness 'between contending groups of newspapers. It ought to become public property at the earliest reasonable moment after it reaches the bands of the Defence authorities.