SENSITIVE TO CRITICISM

Evening Star, Issue 22798, 5 November 1937, Page 1

SENSITIVE TO CRITICISM

PREMIER AND THE PRESS MR FORBES'S QUIP “CRAYFISH THAT HAS SHED SHELL" [From Our Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON, November 4. The allegation that the newspaper Press of the Dominion is not treating the Government fairly was repeated in the House of Representatives tonight by the Prime Minister, Mr Savage, who declared that the Government was facing this i.w.tion, and would have to seek other means of publicity. “ I do not know what that will be ” be_ continued, “ but dp not make any mistake, I have never gone down without a fight.” Mr Lee: You are not going down. Tho Prime Minister: And the people who put us down will know that they have been in a scrap. There now! Hearty laughter _ greeted the Prime Minister’s use of his favourite exclamation, and he laughingly remarked that he had been accused of using a famous phrase. To give good service in the Press, he continued, it should be true. “ I am not speaking in a personal nay, because I think I know my job just as well as they do. A man is not paid to write the principles of the Sermon on the Mount, but the policy of the newspaper, the vested interests that the Press are resting upon to-day. That’s all.”

This threat provoked comment from Mr Forbes (Hurunui) who remarked that the Prime Minister teemed very sore with the newspapers. “ I never knew that the Prime Minister was so sensitive,” he continued. “He reminds mo of a crayfish that has shed its shell. He has been complaining about the Press since he -took office, hut no man has had a fairer run. Does he want adulation all the time? He said that he was not getting the notice from the Press that he should, and that something would have to be done. The Prime _ Minister: I did not say that. X said we would find other means of publicity. _Mr Forbes: He said he was not getting the notice he should.

The Prims Minister: I was talking about the Government.