THE HIGH COMMISSIONER'S SPECIAL CABLES.

Free Lance, Volume XVI, Issue 876, 20 April 1917, Page 8

THE HIGH COMMISSIONER'S SPECIAL CABLES.

"Made in Germany." TTT is to be hoped that the Government - a - will lose no time in rapping the High Commissioner for New Zealand, Sir Thomas Mackenzie, over his official knuckles for that curious misconception of his duty which led him on Tuesday last to send out by special cable a German official communique with reference to certain heavy losses, alleged to have been suffered by the Australians at Lagnicourt. No one who follows the progress of the war with any care needs reminding that in the vast majority of instances these , German communiques are not only grossly misleading but -deliberately and 'absolutely mendacious. It is no part of the High Commissioner's duty to cable out the vainglorious' official bulletins issued by the enemy. That sort of thing used to he done by the London correspondents of the Hearst journals, and other anti-British organs, but so bad a precedent should not have been followed by the representative of a British Dominion in London. & ft 35*' : ' ■ UJ For an accurate account and estimate of such lives as may have been suffered by the gallant Australian soldiers, who displayed" such positively heroic gallantry at Lagnicourt, the New Zealand public .could very well • have 'awaited Mr. Gibbs's account or; the official despatch of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig. The public here has no taste for bulletins and communiques "made in Germany!"/ As a.rule the High Commissioner contents himself with cabling Out scrappy and uninteresting bits of news, which more often mislead, than usefully inform the public. Apparently, he has now assumed the role of sensa-tion-monger: It is a role which the sooner it is relinquished the better for Sir Thomas Mackenzie's reputation for common sense and regard for the .due fitness of things. The chances are, however, that one of his subordinates is responsible for this faux pas.