The Evening Mail. FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 1876.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 102, 18 August 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 1876.

Takkn* as a rule, the private grievances <>f st newspaper have very little in tlieru to interests the general public; but in the present instance, justice to otir constituent* compels u* to draw attention to a matter which we consider greatly affects our position in this town. Fur the information of those persons who do not read the Xm-tb fHntjtt Titm*, we may state that there have appeared in that paper, on three different occasions, sonic telegrams on public business which have passed between the numbers for the district and his Worship the Mayor. These telegrams were public property, at least, one would infer so, as they were published in our morning contemporary, but his Worship was evidently under the impression that the men- ' sages were only public so far as the j iVVrfA Olthjt* Timr* was concerned, and } totally ignored the existence of Thk i Ever>"i>*«t Mail. Now, the Mayor will, J no doubt, pardon us for pointing out that j the Maw. has a considerably larger circu- j lation in town than has our morning con- ! temporary ; and further, we think we S can claim to giving much fuller reports of the Council's proceedings. On these m outids, therefore, we assert that we have ju it r,s intteh right to be supplied with public information as the At the meeting of the Council last evening, it was* suggested, in reading over the t minutes, that the telegrams which had been received from Wellington from our members should be taken as read, as they had been published. Now, with all due respect to the Council, we beg mo3t emphatically to state that the telegrams have not been published, inasmuch that there are numbers of ratepayers who read the Mail and never by any

chance the morning paper ; consequently to these persons, the telegrams have not been published. Councillor Scott evidently looked .it the matter in the same light as we do, for he in urging that the the telegrams should be read, used the same argument as we have just done. The Mayor, no doubt, felt he had been guilty of a want of courtesy in not favoring us

with a pet]) at the telegrams, for he endeavoured to explain that the reason he did not show them to us was, that lie imagined that they would be too late foi* insert ion in the day's issue on which the messages arrived. This, however, is a veiy lame excuse, for we take it to be the duty of the Mayor to place all telegrams having a public interest, and which are received in his Worship's ofiicial capacity, at the disposal of tlie Press. We say it is the Mayor's duty, bee.!use, as lie receives a salary, he is to all intents and purposes a public servant, and, therefore, as such, should canyout his functions impartially, and not i'avor one journal more than another. We make the.se remarks as applying to all paid Mayors generally, and not as intended to point solely to the gentleman who is so ably titted to take charge of the citizens' interest in this town. A\ e should not have alluded to this matter, but in our contemporary's report this morning, of the Council's proceedings, we find the following ;—'• The Mayor read several telegrams which had passed between himself and Messrs. Hislop and Shrimski, Ms.H.R. They have all been published except the following.'' (Here follows the telegram.) Now, had our contemporary reported the re-marks made by His Worship regarding the non-appearance of these telegrams in The Evkxini: Majj., we should have felt perfectly satisfied, and not have referred to this unpleasantness, but the reporter 011 the Tiiio-i carefully abstains from mentioning a word in explanation of His Worship's action in this matter, and as a consequence, in defence of our own reputation, we have been obliged to bring this subject under the notice of the public. While we have every regard for the Mayor, and a thorough appreciation of his efforts to further the interests of the citizens, we must express a hope that in future he will place us on an equal footing with our morning contemporary.