THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 1912. "SCOOPS"—AND OTHER THINGS

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10691, 12 August 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 1912. "SCOOPS"— AND OTHER THINGS

Our evoning contemporary je welcom. to the "satisfaction it derives from the publication of "scoops" such as that so presumptuously supplied to it by Mr H. C. Robinson. The latter gentleman evidently does not know hii own mind for two minutes at a stretch. A few weeks back he defended the action of the secretary o 1 the Trust Lands Trust in refusing tc supply certain unimportant information for publication before the Trustees had been, consulted. %Now, without having the courtesy to consult his cotrustees, he hands the report of a sub-committee to our contemporary, and seems to delight in its publication before it has formally come before the Trust. As it happens, there is 110tliing in the report which might not have beau produced by a Sixth Standard schoolboy. It is an effort in pyrotechnics which is worthy of its sponsor. The mountain has been moved —aad it has brought forth a diminutive little rodent which looks suspiciously as though it were plague-strick-en. Bnt that if;, another story. What this paper protests against is the violation of a ' well-recognised principle in local s-'lf-goveriimont. It is quite conceivable that the Trustees would have taken the Robinson report is committee, and would have arrived at the decision that it was undesirable that it should have, been given publicity in the meantime. Indeed, in view of all tho circumstances, it would have been more than justified in pursuing this course. There is a stiv-ng public feeling- in favour of tho .establishment "f nn Agricultural College in this district. . This feeling was emphasised at the meeting of the Masterton A. and P. Association on S.uurday last. Mr Robinsoi:i< must have known that a deputation, representative of the whole of the local bodies in tho district (including the Trust Lands Trust) was about to wait .upon the Prime Minister and urge that the North Island Agricultural College„ be established in the Wairarapa.' And yet, on. his own initiative, imxl without the slightest corn-deration for either his .fellow-trustees or the local

bodies of the district, lie projects a ' wild-eat scheme and has it published .id the report of a fiub-committco <.f the Trust without a thought d the •licet it might have upon a propose.! which has already been approved, by a large ".ltd reprcnO'.iitative confcr>nco. Wo mention these facts mere--:.v to demonstrate how highly injudicious it is for individual menibort. of 'ocal bodies to u.vurp the functions of the whole which they may t. So far as our loe.il contemporary :.-i concerned, it is quite entitled to publish whatever it may think lit. We eaa only say, however, thai it is a rule observed by all well-coi;-ductcd journals to abstain from publishing any document which may bo of a confidential character, or .which-may render them liable to the charge of. a breach of journalistic etiquette. In this connection we do not accept Mr J. T. M. Hornsby as an authority upon either journalistic 1 or political etiquette. The riiere fact that he endorses the action of our contemporary proves nothing more than that Mr [ J. T. M. Hornsby and tho Wairarapa Daily Times are of one'opinion. It was only a few days back that a Minister of tho Crown severely critic,if.'3d a Wellington journal for having pursued similar methods to those of our Ideal contemporary, and we may 'be pardoned for preferring the opinion of the Minister to that of Mr J. T. M. Hornsby. The whole business, as far as the Robinson report is concerned, is of an unsavoury character, . and members of the Trust Lands Trust have very properly expressed their resentment at the conduct of one c) their members. It would be -a thousand pities if the Trustees should find ■it necessary to pass a standing order to secure the observance of a principle which, in other bodies, is safely entrusted to the good judgment, and discretion of individual members. While no exception can be taken to the publication of the reports of private institutions in anticipation of meetings, it would be intolerable if the right were generally exercised in respect to reports furnished to public bodies. ■ No self-respecting public body would allow its privileges to be tx { ilagrahtly usurped.