The Lyttelton Times. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 1861.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XV, Issue 896, 12 June 1861, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 1861.

The public of Canterbury has doubtless felt itself much amused by the newspaper warfare which has raged during the past fortnight. Argument and contradiction, assertion and denial, joke and counter-joke, by the 'Lyttelton Times 'against the < Press' and by the < Press' against the * Lyttelton Times,' have occupied the prominent columns of both papers and the chief attention of their readers. But besides amusement, we fear that in the minds of many some degree of annoyance has been felt—some dissatisfaction at the apparent growth of an unseemly strife from which it has been hitherto our boast that the Canterbury press has been free.' Many of the readers of the 'Lyttelton Times' must have felt surprise at least at our sudden transgression of the ceremonious rule which we have hitherto observed so carefully. As we are about to return to the paths of strict propriety we desire to explain our reasons for the course which we have taken.

No paper could have started with a louder assumption of authority in matters political than the l Press/ or with a higher prestige to give colour to its pretensions than was afforded in the names supposed to be connected with

its management. A single glance at the first number sufficed to show that the political object of the new paper was one the mere pursuit of which was plainly fraught with danger to the community. A second inspection proved that it contained an astonishing amount of ignorance and fallacious reasoning underneath a superficial crust of smart writing which might mislead inattentive readers. Before long it appeared also that common candour in dealing with facts and ordinary decency in speaking of individuals were both wanting. Had a paper, started on broad grounds, putting forward modest pretensions, and written by men of ordinary humility, asserted the substance of what the ' Press' has asserted, it would never have gained credit for an instant, and any effort on our part to disprove its assertions would have been needless. But a little assumption and a little smartness have wonderful weight for a time with any public, -and form a sufficient disguise under which to foster almost any fallacy, or to gain almost any temporary end.

The new journal began at once to trade upon the high reputation of certain individuals who were supposed to be connected with it, and who were also supposed to be of surpassing ability and irreproachable honesty ; it professed to have a high moral aim j it volunteered to denounce fraud and to expose folly; it accused the Government, the press, and the whole public of the .province of political immorality ; and with a tone of unimpeachable wisdom and integrity it stood forward as the sole champion of truth in Canterbury. Because, then, the obvious aim of the {Press' was to degrade the people of Canterbury in their own eyes and before the world, and to injure the political and material welfare of the province, it became absolutely necessary to inquire at once whether the oracle which in ominous phrases invokes evil upon the land was inspired or counterfeit. We did not hesitate a moment. Suspending for a time our usual rule of etiquette towards another journal, and careless of any charge of jealousy or trade rivalry which might be made against ourselves, we directed our efforts to show to the public what a little careful investigation would show to any reader. Mistakes in the first principles of state craft, ignorance of common facts, blunders of all kinds in the use of statistics, discourtesy towards private individuals, and, finally, disingenuous assertions and still more disingenuous replies, have proved that the ' Press' does not emanate from men whose wisdom, integrity, and gentlemanly character give authority to their statements.

Having1 shown that the assertions of the 'Press' are not to be trusted simply i because the \ Press' asserts them, we go no further. I Whatever truth may be told in its columns we shall silently welcome : its.errors (the veil 'of romance once removed) We confidently •leave to the public, who will detect for themselves their mischievous tendencies. We would still gladly join in a candid and rational argument upon any practical subject with the « Press/ had not our first advance in this direction met with a rejoinder which merits all the adjectives of contempt, from shabby down to cowardly. We decline argument of any any sort upon these terms, and particularly an argument upon generalities whose practical application has either gone by or is indefinitely postponed. We have more pressing and more important work than this to do. It is currently believed in England that an Irish family, when by a happy chance a piece of meat comes into their possession, hang it to the rafter and give a zest to their potatoes by pointing each mouthful at the savoury morsel. The diet is called ' potatoes and point.' It may suit the ' Press' to follow the Irish example by cramming its readers with dry theories and statistics which have lost their application; and it may be pleasing to flavour the mass with insinuations against the private character of individuals in or out of power. We prefer a more nourishing diet, and a more wholesome stimulant.