GENEROUS TREATMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23299, 17 September 1937, Page 10

GENEROUS TREATMENT

GOVERNMENT AND THE PRESS A LACK OF APPRECIATION ABUSE OF WIRELESS SUGGESTED (From Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON. Sept. 16. " If any Government has ever had a good spin from the cress, this Government has." said the Leader of the'Opposition (Mr A. Hamilton) during his speech in the Address-in-Reply debate in the House of Representatives to-night. "The press helped the Government greatly to get into power." Mr Hamilton said, " because it was certainly pretty hard on the last Government. Yet the Prime Minister still complains about 'the press; in fact, he talked in Auckland about punching the newspapers if they did not do what he wanted." The Minister of Lands (Mr F. Langstone): Do you think he might have jammed them? All members of Parliament liked to get a good run from the press, Mr Hamilton continued, and, although they did not like criticism, they had to stand up to it at times. The press of New Zealand was quite fair, and played the game in a wonderful way. Mr Hamilton criticised the Government's use of the national broadcasting service. In the guise of broadcasting facts, he said, it had put over a lot of propaganda. The Prime Minister was inclined to be a sinner in that direction sometimes. The presentation of facts was all right, but facts were nearly always interpreted through the outlook of the person giving them. The Minister of Finance (Mr W. Nash) was also inclined at times to overstep the mark when talking about the guaranteed price. Mr W. J. Poison (Opposition, Stratford): Oh! No! "The Minister of Finance recently broadcast an address about the guaranteed price," Mr Hamilton concluded. "That is all right, but why was the Farmers' Union not permitted to broadcast its case in reply? "