CABINET WHISPERS

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4384, 15 June 1901, Page 8 (Supplement)

CABINET WHISPERS

It is popularly Imagined that a Government utterance iu a public print on any subject ot topical and international interest is one of the rarest things in tho world (says a writer in '“Cassell’s Saturday Journal” under tho title of “British Whispers to the Nations”). Cabinet Ministers, as a rule, are so extremely guarded, and take such great pains to avoid saying anything which might be construed as unfriendly to a foreign nation when speaking in public, that it is naturally supposed they would ho doubly careful when entrusting their thoughts to the tender mercies of a newspaper. The truth is, remarkable to say, that it is just because they have to take such precautions in speech that members of the Government are often more inclined to “let themselves go” in tho newspapers, it always being understood that the process ,is carried out in a definitely prescribed manner, and that the rules of the game, which aro thoroughly understood on both sides, Ministerial and editorial, are strictly adhered to. When thev are so, tho Government, though speaking, does not seem to speak in person; but a good many people abroad whom it is most desirable should see through the thin deception do so. On these terms newspapers often come into possession of important information from tho Government, given to them by the heads of departments themselves, the facts of which they would never dream of speaking in person publicly for fear of the comment that would inevitably bo aroused. The chief of tho rules of the came reerred to is that in no circumstances, oven though the accuracy of the information be doubted for the time ocing, and tho paper perhaps suffer in conseguenco, mus't the source of tho information he stated. If this rule were broken, and a paper published the fact that the Government was its informant, it would bo extremely probable that the Government would promptly issue a disclaimer, besides which the offending journal would promptly be placed upon its black list, and would bo accorded no more favours. Another rule is that tho substance of the information must he presented in the boldest ami briefest form, and with as little “varnish” as passible. Often, therefore, an utterance of extreme importance is presented in half a dozen lines, though it might well be made to oocnpy half a column of a newspaper.