The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, JULY 3, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 825, 3 July 1879, Page 2

The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, JULY 3, 1879.

There was a formal .motion introduced m the Assembly last year that no newspaper proprietor should be permitted to stand as a Parliamentary representative. The motion came to nothing, as might have been expected ; notwithstanding there is very much which may be said m its favor. We could wish that m the present session a motion were carried which would take the advertising patronage out of the power of Ministers, and delegate it to some more impartial authority. The power of the press for good or evil is admitted, and the man who controls the power of a newspaper, of average standing, exercises, outside of Parliament, as much influence as an ordinary member of the Legislature. His opinion is to be conciliated, his support is worth purchasing, and neither conciliation nor purchase has been withheld to secure his advocacy. Even cbeu he is placed at a disadvantage for the maintenance of Bis probity ; he is exposed to temptations that fall not to the lot of ordinary mortals, and if this is his position outside of politics how will he be situated as an active combatant within the walls of the Parliament House. Unless he is a man of strong will and determination of character, of decided political opinions, and of comparatively easy circumstances, he will be placed at a most unfair disadvatage by being exposed •to constant and urgent temptation from the occupants of the Ministerial benches to side with them. As a member of Parliament he is a doughty man at arms to fight on the side of his party, whilst as a newspaperpreprietorhe directs his organ to take up the Ministerial or Opposition cause, and influence with all its force the direction of public opinion. Assuming that he is a sincere politician, upright, honorable, and free from mercenary motives, stiil he exercise's more than his fair share of influence, and his organ, instead of emitting the direct rays of wholesome independent opinion, is a mere refleotor, and the light it" gives is, of necessity, dimmed and uncertain. Under any circumstances, a newspaper proprietor is out of place as a member of Parliament, but when he is m danger of being subjected to the perils of money bribery through the columns of his papei*, his position becomes incongruous m the extreme, and lie is no longer a safe man. Bribery m his case takes a most seductive form, because it is so indirect, and he sins, moreover, m such good company, for, cannot half a score of his contemporaries be instanced as supporters of the Ministerial cause. At the same time the situation would be much modified if there were no such thing as subsidising the public press. Then the newspaper proprietoi*, inside the House, would be influenced mei'ely by political considerations, an • even 'then would be liable seriously liable, to err under the subtle inducements tendered by the possible acquisition of place and its consequent power and emoluments. "We go with our contemporai'y the Invercargill Times m saying the political position of the press is that of a free arbitrator; its duties lie m the application of unbiassed criticism, and such suggestions for better government as may come within the measure of the light vouchsafed to it; and its entire support ought to be sought for m the general public only. Such a position as that of playing the political "Jeames" to acquh-e Gorernment advertising is so contemptible that we wonder any newspaper of sufficient vitality to maintain an independent existence can be found content to occupy it, and if a paper cannot exist upon the healthy breath of public opinion, it is out *)f place, and should be permitted to die of inanition as a mere cumberer of the ground. If the Government must advertise public notifications, every paper of commensurate standing and circulation should receive a fair share of what is going, irrespective of its politics ; on the other jKand, it may be fairly demanded of newspaper proprietors that they should be content with the political power they wield m their business, and not thrust themselves and their organs into positious where their utility is impaired, to say nothing of the tainting of the purity of the sources from which the Fourth Estate derives inspiration —honesty of purpose, dependence of action, and the public weal.