THE HASTINGS STANDARD.

Hastings Standard, Issue 14, 12 May 1896, Page 3

THE HASTINGS STANDARD.

AS OTHERS SEK CS. (hti'-.v Rivkk Aisnrs. Jl.w 2, ls9G.] ''We had thought tliat by this time all the available openings for establishing newspapers in this colony had heei! taken advantage of long ago either by the renowned ' Rag Planter ' or others. Putt we were egrogiously mistaken. To-day we leceived the first number of the Hastings Stani>\i:i> -- and a full-blown daily ;ti that. The only mystery now is why the claim was not pegged our be fori 1 . For Hastings is pre-eminently a settlement with a, hopeful future- to look forward to. The township is twelve miles out 1 la - tings in;; -i mid ev mua il \ , i<i all probability, become a second Palmerston North. For it is veritably the Centre of a smiling land. To the practical printer's eye, or even that of the fastidious journalist, the Stam-akd •• lills the bill," and wave-- bravely in llle i'l'ee/.e. In mj..;!, .1 I pi.llti-.l ami smartly written. The stit'V are eiptal to tht-ii* work. The public too seem to have rallied round the spirited proprietary hand -oniely. and have evidently given their local paper a. good st;irt- on the road of life-as, indeed it was their bounden duty to do- hv idling tile new -beet with a, '-plelldid " show "of advertisements. The- reward will come to them teniold in the course of tune. It i- a, peculiarity of New Zealand communities that no matter how small and poverty-stricken thev invariably want to have a paper of their own. just as much as they insist upon possessing I heir own church

and schoolhonsi.-: and too often the unhappy journalist who.'e lines have hi eii cast in such localities has to >lun'e 1h • rough side of Fortune s favors along wirh hi- !,\ J i>iL there is no fear oi such a fate for Hastings or the Stani>aj;i>. As the proprietors are two young men who obtained their first coierience of life in ' ireviiioiit hj, how could we do else than commend their spirit and enterprise, ami wish them all of prosperity, especially as in all other respects they are as creditable spec:mens of New Zealand's young generation as could be found: and it may he noted incidentally that the progeny of New Zealand occupy the topmost rung of the ladder in all social statistics.

•• Tlx-re is ju«t one remark wo would like to make in this connection. They have lieeii treated very badly by the director-; 01 the Press Association, who i seem ro luue acted in ;i mo.-t arbitrary j ami autocratic way towards them —that is if we know anything of the constitution and working of that nio-r u-ef«l I and necessary institution, and in the sncce-s and j>r(>]><v! working of vlnch we are just, as much interested a> any of the directors. As it happens, perhaps a little unfortunately for the Staxi'-viui, th" Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Press Association is proprietor of a daily paper in Napier. There are several trains a. day between the two towns, and possibly the Napier proprietors mav have come to look upon [lasting*-as a nice little preserve tor t-heni, and in order to keep it hard and fast in that position, just hedged it round by way of precaution with a prohibitive fee of .IT,OO for the privilege of obtaining the advantages of the Press Association telegrams. If that was the idea -we do not say that it wa- f —it was as selfish as it was impossible, and it was both. We venture to say that the Association never charged so exorbitant a fee before to a newspaper of the position and status of the Stant>\ki>. Hastings is not yet a lir.st-cla.ss town, and any paper started there should not at the very inmost he- required to pay more than' the second-class fee for the privilege of joining the Association. Put, whatever the intention may have been, if we know anything of-the generous instincts of human nature that are invariably aroused by tyranny or oppression ot any kind, the monstrous fee demanded v '.li he taken up as a persoual metier by the people j of Hastings and made up two-fold to I the object;, of such pe'vecui'on. The people-of Ila -:.nn:- will have their local I paper, and out of a feeling of pride, if j for no other reason, they will enj deavor to rai-e it up to the journalistic I level of any sheet in the district. What jis more, they can do it. The imnosiI tion of such a. fee was not only a hindrance to the free spread of journalism, but was practically equivalent to an attempt to put an embargo on the burgesses of Hastings against having a paper of their own. It- is a ! shabby business altogether."'