THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 1894. THE PRESS AND THE PREMIER.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2652, 28 April 1894, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 1894. THE PRESS AND THE PREMIER.

Only for the fact that the words are properly spelled we should have concluded that a costermon-j r hA assumed control of the leading coiuinnn of the Chri-.t-church Press. The spoiling is good, the grammatical construction of the sentences is equal to the average, hut the language can only bo tifiserxhcd <is t'Jllinypgate correctly spelled. TSi-e ),? the ortjan of "the men uf culchaw," wiio pride thcrnKcU'es upon their blue blood, and jio doubt the editor studies their tastes. Editors always try to make their papers suitable to the tastes of their readers, and if this is the language the readers of the Press like we can only say that the blue blood must be gettiug

muddy. Its article of Wednesday is] headed "Mr Seddon as Chucker Out." Would the Press kindly explain to its fair and gentle readers what a " chucker out" is? Then the Premier ia called a " domineering bully," a " rude, peevish, illnatured bully," and a ''gold-diggings publican." These are the terms in which the Premier of the colony is referred to in the leading article of last Wednesday, and the Government as a whole are condemned as "imbecile and unpatriotic," while a civil servant is called a " sleuth hound of the Audit Office." Iu our humble judgment it is discreditable to the colony that such language should appear in the Press. What can people at a distance conclude, but that if this is the language which suits the pretentiously cultured classes the tastes of the lower orders must be terribly low 1 And little was the provocation which called forth such vituperation. Colonel Fox, the recently-appointed commandant, wrote to the Premier, who is also Defence Minister, in reference to certain matters in connection with hiß office. By some means the editor of the Wellington Evening Post obtained a copy of this letter and published it, but no one has been able to ascertain how the paper became possessed of it. Naturally the Government were very indignaut at this, and when the Cabinet met it was decided not to give representatives of the Evening Post access to Government offices, so as to guard "against matters of this nature obtaining publicity before due time. Now the crime of which the Premier has been guilty is that he has refused the Evening Post reporters access to the Government offices, and it is for this that he has been characterised as a "chucker out," etc. Looking at the 'affair dispassionately, it appears to us that Mr Seddon was justified in taking this action. The Evening Post could not be blamed for having published any item of news which comes to its knowledge iu a legitimate way. That is certain. But how did it get Colonel Fox's letter? It appears to us that it must have been supplied by Colonel Fox himself, or by a spy which the Post keeps within the precincts of the Government buildings, cr by a reporter of the Press finding it while prowling about the offices. It is unlikely that Colonel Fox supplied it, and therefore it must have been obtained through a civil servant spy which the Post retains in its pay, or stolen by a Post reporter. No one can come to any other conclusion, and for this reason it appears to us that the exclusion of Post reporters from the Government offices is justifiable. The beauty of the whole affair is that the Press expresses a hope that it will result in the Government being ousted from office. Was there ever anything more silly ! To think that the people of this colony will turn the Government out of office because it has refused to give the Evening Post the run of the Government buildings is childishly ridiculous, but it shows that the position of Conservatism is so desperate that it will grasp at anything which gives the slightest hope. The whole affair has been very much exaggerated. It was said in the same article that the Press Association had also been debarred from seeking information within the precincts of the Government buildings, but a reference to the Premier's letter, which appears in another column, will show that there is not the slightest ground for the charge. Mr Seddon, tired of being misrepresented by the Press Association, whose agents are employed on Conservative papers, told the manager that he would not put himself out to supply him with news. By referring to Mr beddon's letter it will be seen that this is all he has done, and yet the Conservatives are trying to make it appear that the Press Association has been boycotted. It will not. do. Mr Seddon must do something more serious than snub a newspaper before the people of this colony will oust him from office.