MR. LAURENSON TROUNCED.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1464, 12 June 1912, Page 5

MR. LAURENSON TROUNCED.

HIS REMARKS ON THE PRESS AND V, lIIS OWN' CASK. "/ (By Tclecraph-Special Correspondent.!' • -■ ) . Christcliurch, June 11. > Commenting on Mr. Laurensou's refer- ' ences at Dunedin to newspapers anil journalists, the. "Press" characterises' them ns grotesque misrepresentations ami scurrilous libels, rnifl goes on to'fay (hat tliero are, of course, newspapers representing different schools of' thought in regard to political, social, and other matters, and there «ro also journalists with settled, convictions on_ tlic.-e t;Sbjeets, who And no difficulty in attaching themselves to journals. auvocnting the same views iu which, therefore, they ave able to write with the earnestnoss in? from ;i sincere belief in llio' cioctviitos which they put forward. "Wo have known eases,", fays' tkV ■"Press," "in which journalists have madn heavy sacrifices rather than continue- to work' for 'a- paper which lias changed sides, 1 und wo believe that the iiista,?ic«s are" rare indeed whev« a.. responsible writer for a newspaper is reatlv. l<v take, the part of a mere special pleader (o' advocate views in which he.himself does not believe. "But what of the average politician? What'of Mr. Laurcnson himself? How is it that he, a professed leaseholder, a semi-Socialist, is found ready- to follow humbly in the train of Mr. Tlios. Mackenzie, a freeholder, and a Conservative nt heart? How is it that he. is ready, metaphorically speaking, to lick . din boots of the man, who, three or four* years ngo, made him writhe in his seat and redden with rago at the insult ho heaped upon him from the other side of ,tbo House? ' ."We cannot-- pretend to say: We leave that, to Mr. George I.aurenWs own eon- • science, or whatever faculty it is whi'-h does.,duty for thai inward monitor in the ease of a carpet-bag politician. •' "Has he indeed undergone a change, of. heart,'and does he now believe in U><\ views which he formerly spurn rti!- Or is-it; that the attractions of o%e and of the Ministerial loaves ami fishes have been too powerful for him? If so, seeing how fleeting will probably bo his enjoyment of these things, one wonders whether he now really thinks the game is worth . the candle. • » -. | ."That, in the meantime, ho objects to I the criticism of tho newspapers, we ii:n readiiv IK-lieve. No doubt everv political ndvenlurer would like to 1)0 taiien at l-i*i own valuation, with no independent eriiin to prick the bubble, but wo do not think ■ the interests of tho Dominion would bo served by such a. wholesale muzzling of the independent press."