THE BOYCOTT.

North Otago Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8081, 20 September 1894, Page 1

THE BOYCOTT.

(Australasian. Tho Seddon Ministry has two ways of indicating its views as to tho proper duties of the newspaper press. In tho first place it gives tho Government advertisements, where ifc has any choice, to journals that support tho Ministry ; in iho second, Mr M'Kenzie, the Minister of Lands, has brought in a Bill to compel tho writers of articles and paragraphs to sign their names, so that members may know who praises or blames them. Both j proceedings havo been taken "in tho public interest." It is tho recognised rule, in politics, for members in oflioe at any particular moment to assumo that their interests as oflice- holders and tho interests of the State are the same, and they aro thoreforo at liberty to uso tho revenue derived from the whole people to promote tho aims of the party in power, which only represents part of tho people. But for sonio little drawbacks tho assumption might pass for being sound. When advertisements aro issued in the name of tho Government it is to acquaint tho peoplo at large with the « ants and demands of tho State, but if tho announcements are made only or principally in papers supporting the Ministry it follows that the electors opposed to tho Ministry must escape seeing them. Another consideration i.s that Ministries come and go. The best of thorn live but a grasshopper's life. With each change there i.s a ohango of policy, and the newspapers advertised in yesterday go without advertisements to-day, so that u conibideiablo section of tho peoplo must necessarily bo kept in ignorance of matters of intoiost to the whole people. If tho Government regard the advertising vote as a subsidy to be spent princi- | pally on friendly newspapers, then tho ' right name for tho expenditure is bribery and corruption, or the paying of subsidies out of the public purse for the benefit of tho men in ofh'ce for the time being. The Ministers ask, " Why should wo give Government advertisements to newspapers that run us down V Tho answer is that advertisements are published to diffuse information respecting State needs or State orders, and nob to buy favorable criticism or silence attack on Ministers. No argument can bo urged in support of any course of favoritism in tho distribution of tho vote which is not an argument in favor of trying to corrupt tho press. Tho more radical your Ministry the less does it seem to understand principle. Sir R. Stout, who plays tho part of prophot and lecturer to the Seddon Ministry, finds it very hard to make any impression on tho Premier and his colleagues.

In a Iioiho not a hundred mil** from Riwaka' there hangs on the wall a nketch of a football match. The players are represented with black eyes, biokcn jaws, and sti earning nosey, while the refeiec, clad in a complete suit of armour with a drawn sword in Ins hand and a pair of pistols in his belt is standing at bay in a coiner facing a hooting mob oi lulf Irantic spectator who had taken exception to ono of his decisions. This is meiely by the way. Th« liangitikei Advocate repot ts that a farmer living near Levin recently loit forty lambs iu one night tlnough the rav agis of stoats and weasels, there bains simply a punoturt on tho tin oat ana Bhouldf l' to bhow how tho pest's had done their deadly work. The loss of fowls by such means is becuming quits common.