ROOTING FOR AH FUN LEE'S LAUNDRY.

NZ Truth, Issue 80, 29 December 1906, Page 5

ROOTING FOR AH FUN LEE'S LAUNDRY.

Shameful Smoodgc of a CrtMu Editor. ' -;fffff Just as a man is Lnown^by-' the company 'he keeps, a newspaper is generaily identified by the people , ■ it purto. "The independence ,. of the Press ;" "the custodian of Liberty ;''. "the educator of. the Masses';" "are 'a lot of catch rant phrases, which in days gone by have served useful purposes, and, no doubt .if the occasion again arises, will be dished up, cleanshaven, robbed of their hoary whiskers. It is just as well to recognise nowadays that' newspapers are not benevolent and philanthropic institutions ; newspapers are riot ' conducted on charitable or socialistic lines ;. thev are comriiercial : concerns in which the making of money is the chief aim. When tha money is care-, fully placed, in the bank, glory and credit a nd honor and things of that description are allowed to be mentioned and even approved. The Press is free of course, when it doss not .run into collision with advertisers ; if it does V then the band plavs and freedom and sneak cur-like with their ■J' tails between their legs into the back- / yasd and lie low until the trouble is over, then they might whoop again ;■ but ift Ha-' generally a sickly r-Mnd- of whoop. \Vhenthe Press loses, its in-dependence.;';-yiz:;', -when advertiser^ interests are considered above country, class and cre^'dVihe ftee, enlightened* untrammelled -Press . cuts a curious kind of fkure, and one sample of this dirty' kind of ' bend-the-knee- , policy tothe cheap cash advertiser is brouglrfcunder '"Truth's" 'notice by a resident of Waimate; in the Canterbury district, who, with a brief ' and cuttingcomment, oh the superior brand of up-to-date, 1 "bright and breezy journalism served out in .his district, draws attention to a local in the "Waimate Times" of December 20. Here it -is : It has been a frequent complaint that thelre was great difficulty in getting one's washing and ironing done but there can now be no longer any ground for complaint on this score, a laundry t having been started by Mr Fun Lee at the corner of High and John-streets. The Chinese axe well-known experts in this line of business and no doubt they will-do well in Waimate. Newspaper men, and even no exception can be made of the brainy staff of the "Waimate Times," do not airways know! .every thing nor are they always able to accurately ' gauge public wants even to the washing of dirty under-linen. So the statement that there has. been frequent complaint of the difficulty in v getting one's washing and-, ironing done in -the district is considered . to be a dirty atrocious lie, and the asvsurarice that, now that Fun Lee the Cbow has unfurled his dirty shirt ■standard there will be no further cause* for complaint is regarded as absolute rot. The commercial side of a newspaper generally has the Diggest, sav in the- conduct of its columns, and some reason. is necessarily sought 'for the puff to Fun Lee. The reason is not hard to find, covering as it does a couple of inches of the advertising space of the free and enlight- -• ened "Waimate Times" as. follows : ' "' ""' "WANTED KNOWN. FUN LEE begs to inform the inhabitant! of Waimate and surrounding "districts that he has OPENED A • LAUNDRY at the corner of " High and John streets, and by Btrict attention to business hopes' for a share of the public patronage". , ,