THE PRESS ASSOCIATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 196, 18 August 1900, Page 4

THE PRESS ASSOCIATION.

The answer of the Postmaster-Gene-ral, the Hon. J. 0. Ward, to a question asked in Parliament on Thursday by Mr Hornsby, conveys an entirely erroneous impression. From it the inference very plainly is that the Press Association receives , concessions on the Government telegraph lines entailing a loss to the State of £6000 per annum. As a matter of fact it receives no exclusive concession of any description whatsoever. A great many years ego Sir George Grey, who always advocated that the people should receive every facility for perusing the news of the world, reduced very largely the rates for press matter. This advantage the Press Association, which includes all the leading dailies of the colony, participates in in the despatch of telegraphic reports to subscribers. But it is a privilege enjoyed equally by Mr Hornsby (a non-subscriber to the Association;, who is interested in a publication in the Wairarapa district, and who is fomenting the present agitation, ims allowance made to newspapers by the State is shared alike by both Press Association subscribers and non - subscribers. In practice the Association is of direct benefit to the telegraphic revenues" ol the colony. This is very cogently explained in the circular to which Mr. Hornsby drew attention in the House. It is very difficult to see under the circumstances' where the concessions to the Association come in. Mr Ward is also in danger of spreading a wrong impression by calling the organisation a business. No profit is made by anyone out of the Association, as it is purely a combination of papers to obtain an efficient foreign and colonial service of news on the most advantageous terms. Any paper may join,' and on payment of a moderate entrance fee shares equally with the oldest subscriber. Agitation ef the nature now going on, • and which the Government appear in a measure to be -countenancing, often results in the sort of meddlesome interference the consequences of which are usually more serious than in the beginning there appears any reason for suspecting.