THE MAYOR OF CHRISTCHURCH AND "THE PRESS."

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11730, 3 November 1903, Page 4

THE MAYOR OF CHRISTCHURCH AND "THE PRESS."

After the frank statement of his Worship the Mayor to the Council last night, it is hardly necessary for us to explain that the sole reason why we declined to publisii his letter in answer to "Truth" is that there is a. well-understood rule of journalistic practice that if a correspondent wishes to reply to criticism or remarks of any kiud appearing in any newspaper, he should address his reply in the first instance to the journal in which such criticism or remarks appeared. If it refused to publish his letter —which a well-conducted journal is hardly likely to do—then, of course, he would be quite justified in seeking its insertion elsewhere. Mr Wigram himself is not unconnected with journalism, and we can hardly imagine him to be ignorant of tats rale, or of the very sound reasons on which it is based. Its non-observance would be attended by a decided risk of degenerating into the "Eatanswill Gazette" and "Eatanswill Independent" style of journalism, and it is difficult to see what useful result could be gained. It seldom iiappens that two journals serve exactly the same clientele, and most newspaper readers would find a one-sided correspondence, consisting of replies to comments which they had never seen, irritating rather than instructive. The Mayor, to ensure his letter being published, hit upon tlie ingenious expedient of reading it in open Council last night, with soma comments of his own. As a public journal, it is, of course, our business to report an official utterance made by the Mayor in his public capacity, and, consequently, the letter appears in our columns this morning, as no doubt it will also appear in the columns of our local contemporaries. His Worship the Mayor thus gains his point in obtaining publicity for his letter. Incidentally, our evening contemporary, "Truth,"' secures an excellent advertisement, to which doubtless it will not object. With both the other parties satisfied, it is needless to say "The Press" on its part also feels perfectly contented. The arrangement, therefoie, is one which ought to please everybody all round—a result so unusual in such cases that it would be a pity to allow it to pass unnoticed.