The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1890. BOYCOTT EXTRAORDINARY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2103, 25 September 1890, Page 2

The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1890. BOYCOTT EXTRAORDINARY.

These can be no doubt that the Railway Commissioners are mad. Their madness, too, is not of a kind that has much method in it. Its tendency is Buicidal. After having demoralised the service with their coercive attempts to push their compulsory insurance scheme down the throats of the railway servants and thus driving them into forming a union, they now want to muzzle the Press. According to a telegram from Napier they have notified to the Evening News that it will not get any more railway advertising, ov/ing <to having criticised adversely the actions of the Commissioners. Let people think this matter out. Here are three public servants to whom this colony in a moment of frenzy, when it had gone mad on retrenchment, handed over the management of the railways. Ever since they have been muddling and fuddling, demoralising the service, making most inconvenient and vexatious regulations, disorganising the postal arrangements of the colony by running trains at unreasonable hours, and how they are actually going to punish newspapers for letting the public know that they are incompetent managers. The Napier Evening News is to be boycotted by these public 'servants, and as we have in these columns very frequently expressed our disapproval of the actions of these men we presume we shall soon come under their ban also. That means that when a special train runs to any place they will not advertise it in this paper, consequently our readers will not know anything about it, they will not go by it, and thus revenue will be lost to the railway. We shall loose a few shillings, the railway will lose a few pounds,, and our readers will be inconvenienced, but the Commissioners will have gratified their feelings of hatred of the paper which criticises them. They do not care; they have no interest in the matter, except to the extent of pocketing their salaries. It is nothing to them whether the public are inconvenienced or not; they have frequently shown their complete indifference to the necessities of the people, but if they can silence the Press by inflicting punishment on it of course it is of great advantage to them. It is of course no use advising these gentlemen; they are mad without a doubt, and nothing can be done with them except to give them rope enough and they will do the rest. At any rate they will have enough to do if they boycot every paper which has criticised them adversely. There is not a paper in New Zealand which has not frequently condemned them as exceedingly incapable, and now they are trying to inflict punishment on papers for criticising theai. Some montbs ago they inflicted heavy punishment on newspapers by charging for the carriage of them, and now they want to introduce the " particular boycott" which they themselves have characterised as " brutal." If it is "brutal" in railway employes to refuse to work for certain persons, how must we characterise the action of the Commissioners in refusing to give certain newspapers advertisements because > the newspapers criticise them. Now, who do they punish? As we have said they deprive the newspaper of a few shillings, the railways of a few pounds, arid the readers of the necessary information. They punish the public in two ways, viz., by inconveniencing them and by lessening railway revenue. Of course the public are going to sit down and bear the crushing tyranny of Grand Turk Maxwell without a murmer. Wo shall see.