AS OTHERS SEE US

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21096, 22 February 1934, Page 6

AS OTHERS SEE US

TO THE IDITOR OF TH» PBESS. Sir, —It is a healthy exercise to see ourselves as others see tis. It is sometimes, for example, a corrective for our vanity. But the exercise carries many obvious disadvantages. In our desire to hear about ourselves, we lay ourselves open to the verbal assaults of people who avidly seize the opportunity of seeing themselves in print. And the visiter coming to our shores soon realises that iE he likes publicity he can indulge in it here to his heart's content. He has but to open his lips and let his tongue wag about anything —everything—and ho will find the reporters busy chronicling every word, to be passed on by their respective papers as pearls of wisdom. I am impelled to this protest by the columns upon columns of pointless commonplaces unloaded upon the public—per the newspapers—by visitors from overseas who, I am glad to believe, are excellent British citizens, but who are ,none Ihe less perfectly undistinguished iin any way. My pride in the Dominion is hurt by that kind of thing. It ruffles me to see men who in their own country and in their own little local papers could not be deemed worthy of more than the most cursory attention, get here column interviews from our great metropolitan dailies—which in every essential respect are far superior to the English dailies of equal standing and circulation. This must not be taken as the protest of a disgruntled New Zealander. I am an Englishman and naturally wish to see the English visitor cordially received, as indeed he always is;' but a sense of proportion makes me feel that this press exaltation or elevation of men who in England would be completely disregarded, makes us and our press look rather foolish. The worst of it. too. is that my criticism applies to all our great dailies. It might almost appear as if the lengthy interviews with English visitors, no matter whether they are important or not, had become a kind of obsession with our press. The sooner it is broken the better. I ask the reader to observe one very significant thing in this connexion. The more important the visitor, the more difficult is it to secure an interview from him. The undistinguished visitor jumps at the chance and spreads himself out with almost undisguised satisfaction. I hope you will publish this protest. I am sure it will be endorsed by thousands of your readers.—Yours, etc., ENGLISHMAN. February 21, 1934.