SENSATIONMONGERING.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 November 1926, Page 6

SENSATIONMONGERING.

Anonymity may have its uses, but it is probable its abuses preponderate. The nameless author who has, for reasons best known to himself, produced a book entitled “The Whispering Gallery,” appears to have created a sensation of a kind by his amazing pen pictures of the political heroes of the World War, as well as of Royalty. He is described as a diplomat of European reputation, though, judging by the extracts contained in a recent cable, he must be devoid of even the most elementary attributes of diplomacy, and actuated by what may charitably be called bias of'a kind that has. caused him to allow imagination to have the mastery over hie wakeful moments. The Daily Telegraph, while asserting that many of his stories will be called in question, and others laid open to the charge of sheer invention, pertinently asks, “Is he what he pretends to be?” Obviously not. In describing one incident when “Mr. Asquith, Mr. Lloyd George and others Cabinet Ministers were discussing the war,” the author states: “We all looked at one another, but nobody spoke.” That statement directly implies that the author was a member - of the Cabinet, but commonsense impels the view, expressed by the Daily Mail, that the stories are the invention of an ignorant man. Probably the author may succeed in creating a sensation, which will for the passing moment make the book a commercial success, for there exist people with such mentalities that they virtually live on. sensations, especially such as they would look for in a book with a title like "The Whispering Gallery,” anonymously written, and suggestive of all sorts of thrills in which the mighty are brought low and the wise held up to ridicule. Truth is the last thing with which they have 5 any concern. All they desire is to satiate their abnormal appetities for literary garbage. Human nature being what it is in this respect, it is- not surprising that publishers can be found to pander to the taste for such books as “The Whispering Gallery.” It has been snid of truth that it may become a pearl of great price, which shows its best, by day, but will not rise to the price of a diamond or carbuncle that are seen to best advantage in varied lights. A mixture of lies, however, generally acts as an attraction, particularly when presented artfully and plausibly. Strange as it may seem, writers of books, more particularly anonymous authors, are bound to know that it is not the deliberate, intentional fabrications which pass through the mind, but those which arc intended to sink in and settle there that are the most subtle poison and agencies for evil. Men in the front rank of public life have to submit to all sorts of criticisms, lampoonings and barbed insinuations, but if they are to submit to such fabrications and inventions of any anonymous authors who pose as colleagues, then there will be some justification for the assertion that the Empire, with all that it stands for, is becoming decadent.