A MATTER OF RIGHT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26917, 1 November 1948, Page 4

A MATTER OF RIGHT

The reactions of the public to the aircraft loss on the western slopes of Ruapehu, which has cost thirteen live§, will be undivided—there will be this morning, as the tragic story is unfolded, little room for feelings other than of dismay at the completeness of the disaster, and of sympathy with the relatives of those who have perished. It should not require to be said that the responsible press of the Dominion, which is in a very special sense associated with the rest of the community in its joys and -sorrows, shares the general and predominant sentiment of deep regret, at this happening. The press will fi'eely allow that, aS the acting Prime Minister suggests, the first duty of the Government at the scene of the crash, and the base of operations, was the organisation of the search and notification to the relatives of the victims. But these obvious matters being admitted, it is an extraordinary subsidiary tale of officiousness, bungling and concealment which is related in our columns. There is no-need to deal seriatim with Mr Nash’s hot denials that no secrecy surrounded the release of reports about the disaster. It is only too obvious that there were deliberate attempts to prevent the press representatives from obtaining information, while zealous officials endeavoured to “screen”,all reports through the Government-controlled channel of the broadcasting service.

As it happened, the result was that news was not only late in reaching the people of New Zealand, but garbled and misleading—a fact that will not surprise those with experience of the panicky, selfimportant and inefficient methods of officialdom in dealing with news releases. The public will be unwise if they regard this episode as trivial—as a squabble between Mr Nash and his officers and the press, of no concern in relation to the tragedy that overshadows it. It is, in fact, an incident of very great concern to all New Zealanders. The press represents, as no congeries of Statfe employees can do, the ordinary men and women —the people—who are entitled to have all the obtainable* facts from a tragedy of this nature placed before them, the more since an aircraft owned and operated by the State was the instrument of the tragedy. The press was present on an authority above that of acting Prime Ministers. It is not just as an insult and obstruction to pressmen on their legitimate work that the episode must be protested, but as a gross interference with the public rights.