The Press WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1951. Political Capital From The Wahine

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26512, 29 August 1951, Page 6

The Press WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1951. Political Capital From The Wahine

Most readers of “The Press” yesterday morning must have been amazed to discover that Mr A. McLagan, M.P., has seen fit to make public comment upon the equipment of the wrecked Wahine, especially as his comment was so framed as to reflect upon the owners of the vessel and the New Zealand Government, which chartered the vessel for the transport of troops for Korea. Whether the Wahine was equipped with radar, whether she should have been so equipped, whether she could have been specially equipped for this voyage if she does not normally carry the equipment, whether the presence or absence of such equipment had anything to do with the stranding—all these are matters which can properly be raised and commented upon only at a judicial inquiry; and it is grossly improper to raise them elsewhere or in any other way at this stage. Mr McLagan is not content to wait for the judicial finding, which he hopes will bring some public censure upon the Government; so he has conducted a court of inquiry of his own—probably in the Riccarton electorate campaign headquarters of the Labour Party. And after hearing all the evidence and weighing very carefully the expert opinion which is always at the disposal of a marine court, he has brought in a verdict blaming the Government for allowing the Wahine to be sent away with New Zealand troops aboard and into dangerous waters without radar equipment. That, of course, is the verdict Mr McLagan hopes will be brought in eventually by a properly-constituted court; but a Labour politician desperately short of political capital cannot afford to wait upon slow-moving judicial processes. Besides, the verdict of the impartial tribunal might not justify the political hopes reposed in it Mr McLagan is not taking the risk. As a former Cabinet Minister and a presumably responsible leader of the labour Party, Mr McLagan should know that his comment upon a matter which is bound to be the subject of judicial inquiry was unwise and improper. He has used the occasion to accuse “The Press” of suppressing information about the stranding of the Wahine. Moreover, he suggested that this alleged suppression of information was expressly to assist the present Government and he asserted that if it had been a Labour Government which was concerned "The Press” and every other newspaper in the country would have “ splashed" it“with big headings”. In support of this contention, Mr McLagan claimed that information about-the

Wahine was “reported* to “The Press” and to the " Stat-Sun”, which both refused to publish it; they were also offered the information at advertising rates but refused it It is true that “ The Press ” rejected a letter on the subject intended for the correspondence column. It was rejected for the very good reason that the writer drew certain conclusions from a scanty knowledge of the facts and this paper believed and still believes that both the establishment of the facts and the drawing of conclusions from them should be left to a competent authority. It is not true that "The “Press” refused to publish the information “at advertising rates”. The facts are that the writer of the rejected letter asked our advertising department to take an advertisement on the subject over the telephone. The advertisement was not refused. The would-be corres-pondent-advertiser was told that the advertisement would be considered if it was submitted in writing. Upon being told that the advertisement would not be received by telephone, the corres-pondent-advertiser announced that he would make, the facts known’to the Labour Party, and rang off. Mr McLagan is now making what political capital there is to be made out of these “ facts ’’—without too scrupulous an inquiry into their accuracy and without any regard whatever for common fairness or a normal sense of propriety. If the Labour Party is in need of such capital as this, it is bankrupt indeed.