The Press Association.

Hastings Standard, Issue 103, 25 August 1896, Page 4

The Press Association.

AN EXTRACT FROM HANSARD

In the debate on the setting up of a committee to inquire into the working of the Press Association,—

Mr Hog-ir. after referring to the remarks of the previous speaker, said the association had never wronged him. During his career as a journalist he had never suffered at their hands ; he had taken very great care of that. lie had never quarrelled with it, and some of his oldest and best friends were members of the association. He did not wish to see any great harm occur to the Press Association ; but he maintained that the association was rapidly killing itself, and he was endeavoring to save it by pointing out its faults. Now what had this association done ? It had established a monopoly in this country of a niosi dangerous character. It had forced festers for the Press instead f i I avoring to maintain a free I S'ew Zealand. It had establ: 1 i r mbination that was antagonistic to the liberties of the Press ; and it was because he loved and venerated a free Press that he had spoken as he had clone in regard to the doings of this association. Now, a few weeks ago he met a young journalist who had endeavored to establish a newspaper at Hastings, a comparatively small town, and what did he tell him (Mr Hogg) ? That directly he tried to establish that paper he was met at the hands of the Press Association with a demand for £SOO in cash before he could become a member before he could enjoy the privileges of the association—before he would be able to place himself in a position to compete with the newspapers in the adjacent town of Napier. But he could only give them £3OO in hard cash, and he asked them to accept a bill — which he (Mr Hogg) understood he was in a position to have guaranteed —at three months. But they scornfully refused bis bill, and up to the present time, he believed, they had given him no advantage whatever. They had not supplied him with a solitary cablegram, and yet they had stuck tenaciously to the £BOO. les, they took his money, and would give him no equivalent: and, apparently, if he was to get his money back he would have to force it from them in a a Court of law. The Press Association had inserted a huge gag in the mouth of public opinion in this colony. They had no such thing as a free Press, because the country was under the heel of this huge literary Juggernaut. He was not astonished to hear the senior member for Wellington .City, who had such a large connection with the Press, and who was such a voluminous contributor to the Press, speaking in the way he did. Throughout his lifetime he had been mixed lip with monopolies with chartered companies and affairs of that description. But, as newspapers were constituted, conld it be said for a moment that, while they were dominated by an association of this character, there existed such a thing as a free Press in the country ? Why. the very name •• free" was travestied by what it really was. Look at the agreement- that every newspaper proprietor who joined this association had to enter into before he could enjoy any of its benefits. He would only quote one or two passages from that agreement : " The proprietor binds himself during the currency of this agreement not to enter into any arrangement with Neuter's Telegram Company or any " " - r organization or person for the t'.' -"ippiy or publication of cable news, . English, foreign, or Australian, *iti 1 <hall not publish any cable news ; -1 d from or through any such .. . .ization or person in his ncwst. . •except with the permission of the association."

Here was the point : He could only receive the news that was filtered through this association unless he could get its permission to do otherwise. And, then, what was the penalty for any breach of this clause ? "If any breach of this clause is committed by the proprietor, the association shall have power forthwith to determine this agreement, and the proprietor shall pay to the association —as liquidated and ascertained damages for the breach by him of his engagement —a sum equal to the aggregate of his monthly payments for a period of fifteen months after such determination."

There was the penalty—a penalty, he believed, that would amount to something like £1">0, in addition to the forfeiture of the ±'3oo or £BOO that he had had to pay as an entrance-fee. Then, again, in clause 12 they found this, —

" If the proprietor shall at any time cease to obtain his .supply of New Zealand news from the association, according to the rates and terms fixed by the association for New Zealand news, then the association may forthwith, or at any time afterwards, at their election, cease to supply to the proprietor the service of news specified in this agreement; but the proprietor shall nevertheless, and notwithstanding that the service of news specified in this agreement shall no longer be supplied to him, be bound to continue to make the monthly payments specified in this agreement, as though the service of news was still supplied to him."

That was to say, that for fifteen months an unfortunate newspaper proprietor was compelled to pay contributions for an article that he did not receive. Was anything more deserving to be stigmatized as thoroughly fraudulent "? This document was a disgrace to the association, and it reflected no credit on the man who penned it, whether he was a lawyer or not. The agreement was both one-sided and unfair, so drastic that he did not think it was possible to uphold it iu any Court of Justice, and he should be too glad to see it tested. He would appeal to one of the be»t barristers theyjhaa in

a heated speech in defence of this as- | sociation that night, or. at all events, ! in denunciation of the powers proposed to be conferred by this very reasonable resolution—be appealed to him to say whethr-r he considered that such an agreement could bo upheld in any Court of justice ? It could be no more upheld than the doctrine that was brought forward in that House could be upheld amongst a community of free men that the Parliament of the country had any right to interfere with private individuals or their concerns. Was not the Parliament of the country supposed to protect the community against private companies, against syndicates, and against rings'? Was it because the present Government were endeavoring to prevent this country from being dominated by rings and syndicates, and by unholy financial combinations—by combinations such as they had presented to them that night that certain self-constituted purists were persistently attacking the Government for fighting against combinations that were pernicious? That honorable gentleman would find it difficult to defend on the platform his action in connection with this association, or with the Liberal measures passed during the last five years in that House. He (Mr Hogg) had never been a renegade to any party, cither in the colony or elsewhere, and he was not going to be a renegade to the Press. He maintained that he was one of the best friends of the Press in New Zealand. The Press was the palladium of our liberties, and they should not allow the Press to be gagged by questionable combinations. He trusted this resolution would be carried. As to being a member of the Committee, that was personally a matter of indifference ; and, if it was imagined by any one that he was likely to act unfairly on the Committee, he would rather have his name withdrawn. But he was very sorry that any member of the House who knew anything of his career—which, he might say, had been a public one long befoi'e he entered that House at all should express the opinion regarding his fitness to act oil that Select Committee that had been expressed by Mr Bell. He could only conclude that such an opinion must have been animated by some strong impulse, based on considerations that

were not consistent with a high sense of public duty. He did not want to damage the Press Association, but he wished to rescue it from the extraordinary position in which it placed itself by degenerating into a combination for the suppression of business rivalry. Here was a trade ring formulating legal bonds by which it could impose such a heavy penalty on newspapers as £SOO in a small township like Hastings, for instance, and prescribing an entrance-fee of £BOO or £IOOO for any newspaper that might be established in the City of Wellington, in Christchurch, Punedin, or Auckland. An association that possessed " such powers was at once a danger to the community, and unworthy to be identified with the Press of any country. If it could impose an entrance-fee of £SOO, £BOO, or £IOOO, what was there to prevent it from doubling or even multiplying it to any extent at any time ? Then, if the managers could, by an agreement of this character, impose such fees, there was nothing beyond the range of their power in the direction of doing mischief to the Press of the country. The reason why be thought a Select Committee should be set up was that the House ought to know whether, in consequence of certain privileges in connection with cablegrams that this association possessed, it was in a position to injure the press by preventing such a thing as fair competition and free rivalry ; because the very health, the very life, the very liberty of the press depended upon a fair rivalry. There was nothing like rivalry in connection with press matters. Long before this association was established he was connected with Reuter's Company, and was able to obtain cablegrams. At that time there was no special

protection ; and he would ask honorable members to look back to that time, to examine the files of newspapers then in existence, and to say whether the news was not well and carefully collected, and whether the amoudt of good cable matter presented to the public would not fairly compare with what they had at the present time. The association was now constituted on selfish lines that were unworthy of New Zealand, and unworthy of their Press. The colony did not receive at the hands of the association the amount of cablegrams and telegraphic matter it had a right to expect. If the Government assisted this association, they had a perfect right to inquire into its operations, and to say whether it was fulfilling its duties and obligations. If, in the opinion of a Select Committee of the House, the operations of the association were having a disastrous eflect on the Press of the country, then even if it did mean some expense—if the only remedy involved a further amount of public expenditure in order to rescue the Press from the thraldom that it was suffering from, and to place the country newspapers, as well as the metropolitan journals, in a fair position to obtain their news without being under the the heel of organizations of a pernicious and improper character—it would be money well spent.