THE AUSTRALIAN PRESS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2983, 17 May 1911, Page 3

THE AUSTRALIAN PRESS.

MISREPRESENTING NEW ZEALAND. (From Our Own Correspondent.) AUCKLAND, May 8. Mr W. C. Somers, of the firm of Russell and Somens, P.O. Steamship Company's agents, who returned to Auckland yesterday by the Mabeno after a visit to Sydney and Melbourne, has com© back convinced that a great deal of prejudice ia shown by some of the Australian newspapers concerning New Zealand. "It is most regrettable," said Mr Somers to a Herald representative, " to see the manner in which this country i*s misrepresented in the press. The most trivial incident, if it is of • a harmful nature, is bolstered up and made to appear in the light of a national catastrophe. Take, for instance, a paragraph that appeared recently in the Sunday Times, of Sydney, in reference to an earthquake in Pahiatua. Here are the headings :—" Earthquake in New Zealand," "Swaying Houses and Falling Chimneys," "PanicStricken People," "New Zealand Shaken To Its Foundations." " That is the sort of thing," continued Mir Somers, " that is doing an enormous amount of harm in keeping away emigrants and tourists from the Dominion. The recent plague cases in Auckland are also shockingly exaggerated, and it is not to be wondered at that it frightens intending visitois from venturing to our shores, especially people from the Old Country; I .certainly think," concluded Mr Somers, "the New Zealand Government should keep its representatives informed of the facts concerning events happening in the Dominion, so that they may be in a position to refute damaging misrepresentations on the part of Australian newspapers."