The Star. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1882.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume III, Issue 285, 9 August 1882, Page 2

The Star. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1882.

PEESS TELEGRAMS- PROTECTION.

Mr. Feldwick Las succeeded in reestablishing the clause iv the above Bill, which provides -24 hours pi-otee-tion for all telegrams paid for by any newspaper. He quoted an explanation of the object of the Association, given by the Association itself, as follows : " The object of those who had promoted the Bill was not to establish i any monopoly, but to prevent one being established, by offering, encouragement to competition ' and enterprise in the supply of cable news." This is somewhat too thin. The only Press Association in New Zealand now enjoying the benefits of a monopoly, which it secured and established by undermining the former ■ Press Agency, by securing a promise of more favorable terras from the department than 'those enjoyed by its elder oppouent — this is the Association which now professes to desire to " encourage competition.? We hold that papers receiving news should pay for it; that those joining any such Association should "each and all pay according to their means; and have always endeavored to act up to the theory expressed. Though subscribers, > we have- ever regarded the , present monopoly as a misfortune to the colony. Almost every paper in New Zealand re-prints tho same intercolonial- news. The telegraphic columns of the one are but a copy of, the other, and Crcsar is so very like Pompoy where opposition journals are running, that it scarcely seems to matter which the non-political reader subscribes to. Besides the present service is not by any means perfect. The Wellingtoijpilegrams are certainly not first-class ; as atiy •one. can. see who' will take the trouble to compare the special correspondents' telegrams sent to the Dunedin and Auckland dailies from the seat of Government,- with those compiled by tho association. Tho Parliamentary digest is the veriest "dry as dust," and hardly any discrimination is exercised or selection made. For instance, it is by no means uncommon for a long list of bills or dobates on bills affecting mining districts td be sent to us ; or for tho fact to be noted that the Suburban Drainage Bill of little Pedlington, in Southland, passed its first reading. Again, the average colonial news is washy. Take the ordinary association message ; it is even betting on the unopened envelope that it will contain particulars to tho effect that John ►Smith has broken his leg at Wellington ; of his child having eaten matches and nearly died

from the effects ; of his .£2O building shaving beeikbufntdowli, aud^that'the insurance was JJIS ; or that a dead body ' waa picked up iv a river, a gutter, or a harbor; or that a man .was -sentenced to a few months or years' imprisonment for stealing something or other from somewhere,- police news of a sort which, when seen in newspapers published at a distance, • not one person in & 'hundred would ever read; and would be no wiser if they did read it, and no losers if they never saw it. The Press Agency service was unquestionably better ; besides, when the two rivals -were running, agents were on their mettle, the one was anxious to out-do the othcrj and a full and careful service was the result. But as things now are, rival newspapers a few ,'miles apart are expected to furnish, free, gratis, for nothing, news for one another. Except in the large towns, .there is no pay attached, and the result is, as might be expected for the money, anything but good. To a monopoly in itself wo have no objection : if the system adopted were sound, if all agents were paid according to the value and efficiency of tlieir service, if none but active and reliable men were retained, the fact bt its being a monopoly niight be-so mu<ih in its favor ; because, there would' be no waste of labor, no cases of two agents doing the work of one: But the quality of the present service leaves so much to be desired that it affords rather a shocking example of the dangers of a monopoly, than of tho advantages of one.