The Dominion. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1910. A BITTER ATTACK.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 947, 14 October 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1910. A BITTER ATTACK.

It is not our custom to give any serious attention to the attacks made on The Dominion by Sir Joseph Ward. His intolerance of criticism has, on numerous occasions, led him into violent outbursts of anger, culminating at times in offensive references to the paper. We have ignored his attacks because they represented nothing more than the desperate, endeavour of a greatly embarrassed politician to cover up the exposure of his weaknesses or' to divert attention from the chas'tisement ho has so properly received for his neglect or abuse of the trust reposed in him by the electors of the country.' But in the House of Representatives yesterday the Prime Minister made an assertion which we cannot overlook.' In the course of a bitter attack on this journal,he stated that

-The Dominion was ijiven to_ misreporting him and then writing leading articles on its misleading reports. ... He could .give half a dozen cases where they had misreported him in tho House and itwist'ed things.

If this statement means anything at all it means that the Prime Minister alleges that this paper has intentionally misreported him with the object of attacking him in its leading columns. No more monstrous accusation could be made against any reputable newspaper and its staff. The statement is.not only untrue, but we venture to think that whatever opinions may be held regarding the political views, of the paper, is not a single member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, and not half a dozen members .of the House itself, who will 'not, say that the '[.'..Parliamentary, reports of The Dominion are fuller than.those' of most of the papers of the country, and quite as as any, The Prime Min : ister himself receives a great deal, more space for his speeches in. The Dominion than he receives from almost any other paper in New 'Zealand,' and those reports are supplied by thoroughly competent journalists ;' esteemed as honourable men by their professional brethren and all who know them; and utterly incapable of the despicable behaviour alleged by. Sir Joseph Ward.i We have felt it our duty to make this reference to the staff of the paper, and to give this flat contradiction, to,the Prime Minister's assertions,- because, however , little value may be attached to statements made by ■ .Sir.' Joseph Ward when smarting under the sting of hostile 1 ' criticism,. it has ■ to. : be borne in mind-that his allegations placed'on record in Hansard. But we: propose to do something more than this.. We shall prove unanswerably- out.of the PRIME' Minister's own lips and .through the medium of the press of Welling-. ton,Christchurch, and Auckland the gross nature of the injustice he has attempted tb do The Dominion and the. utter-unreliableness of his assertions, .-■"■.-• ■ . -'. '_" ■",

'The professed cause of ,Sir Joseph Ward's violent outburst yesterday was the report published in our columns regarding his statement', in Parliament, in relation to the parr ade of Territorials on Labour Day. The member for. Chalmers asked-the Prime'.'Minister,, whether there was any, truth in the statement published in The Dominion that the "parade was killed stone dead owing to a statement in the House by the Prime Minister.to ;Mr. M'Laren "that the volunteers, needn't turn out'unless they liked." , After bit-; terly. attacking. The Dominion, Sir Joseph Ward said:'.,.'.' .-'\'\,'_■

The statement.made to' the effect that -lie ■ had informed a member of the. House that the volunteers need -not turn out unless they liked was not; in .accordance with fact- '.'He had stated .that no instructions had been issued /from/ headquarters for. the holding of'exercises on labour Day. It was, however, customary to hold daylight .parades on,, holidays. .These; parades were held.at the request of tho various companies, and attendance was :voluntary. ."..'.'

It will be "noted that Sib •' Joseph Ward, states positively that "the statement that . he, had .informed, a member bj the House that the volunteers, need- not turn out unless th-ey lihed-was,contrary'to-fact" The reports of his speech which we' publish below.will show whether or not his words boreithe meaning which he savs they do not; The report published : in. ..The /Dominion' read as follows:.' '.' '.-,

Several questions, relating to the observance of labour Day were. put. in the House yesterday by. Mr. D. , M Laran, Labour member for Wellington East, Replying to these, the Prime Minister said "-. . '-. Whatever was done, by tho Territorials' on that' day was. quite voluntary, and-there was no.penalty for not turning out to daylight parades. Sir Joseph Ward pointed out, howwer, that if: Territorials or any other section of the community wished,to spend the day in their own way it was impossible to stop them in the interests-of the Labour organisations. .

,The reports' which appeared in the Christchurcii Press and Auckland Herald, so far as they referred to the -Territorials' parade, were exactly the same, word for word, as our own. The report published. m the-Evening Post, after, mentioning the other questions asked* by ,Mb, M'Laren, proceeded:

Eegarding the volunteers Sir; Joseph gave°tho assembly to, understand that volunteers who did not attend parades arranged for tP-morrow. would not.', be fined. He announced that men. under •the voluntary system were not, under any compulsion to do or not to do any par: ticular thing. New Zealand 'was a free country, and individuals'were to iict. . There was. no desire on the Government's part to punish volunteers who did not attend parades to-morrow.

This report, it will be seen, also' confirms the report published in The Dominion and in effect contradicts the Prime Minister's statement that ho did not say that volunteers need not ' turn out unless they liked. But there is still further confirmation of our report, and contradiction of Sir Joseph Ward, in his own- journal, the Ifew Zealand Times. . We publish its' report in full as under:

Sir Joseph Ward also stated, replyin; to Mr. M'Laren, that no orders had been issued for compulsory turn-outs of the Territorials to-day. Whatever was dono, he said, would be done voluntarily upon tho part of the corps themselves. The Government could not do what it. had been asked,' and compel . certain classes of the community to do certain things upon Xabour Day that they did not desire to do. Tho acts must be voluntary, aud if tho Government attempted to use force, as had been suggested, it would Tery quickly be found to arouse strong resentment. Therefore the Territorials would not be forced to turn but, and there could'bo no punishment to men who did not. attend.

Anyone who troubles to read and compare the above condensed reports will see that they are,to all intents and purposes identical in conveying the Prime Minister's views

as to the position of tho Territorials. It, was not compulsory for the Territorials to turn out, but they could do so if they wished tc> Yet in the face of these reports, in order to vent his spleen on The Dominion he pretends to believe that the paper has distorted the meaning of his words and attempts to cast an aspersion on the paper,' which is wholly unfounded, and utterly indefensible. We have ' exposed the inaccuracies of the Prime' vMinister so. often that we grudge the space we have devoted to the further exposure here recorded. A ( plain and emphatic contradiction might have served the purpose equally well.' But it is just as well, perhaps, that the public should fully appreciate the ( lengths to which the head of the Government is prepared to go in his political attacks on those ho is not able to intimidate and whose criticism he is unable to answer by- anything more effective than slander and abuse.