THE NORTHCLIFFE PRESS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 568, 4 December 1915, Page 10

THE NORTHCLIFFE PRESS.

SIR J. A. SIMON'S CRITICISM.

THE CUNNING OP THE GERMAN PROPAGANDA.

"Times?' and "Sydney Sun" Services. (Eeeeived December 4, 8 a.m.) LONDON, December 3. Sir J. A. Simon, in the House of Commons, quoted the "Cologne Gazette" as authority for his statement that the criticism of "The Times" was encouraging the Germans. "The Times" on Thursday published the statement that a torching examination of the German Press did not bear out, in the slightest degree, Sir J. A. Simon's contention. Colonel Repington, the military expert of "The Times," points out that Sir J. A. Simon stated that the "Daily Mail's" map had been published while Bulgaria was in the balance, whereas Bulgaria had declared war three days previously. A letter from Mr Stephen Graham, the correspondent of "The Times" in Russia, in regard to Sir J. A. Simon's charges, states: — "Nothing has heartened the Germans more than the success of their arms and diplomacy. The deliberate plan of the German • Press propaganda was to hearten us. In order to induce slackness they pretended to be starving, and to have insufficient supplies of copper and a shortage of shells. Now their idea is to pretend that the Germans are ready for peace. "The majority of the recent heartening canards were from a pro-German source. We were heartened in regard to Bulgaria, Greece, and Rumania, and the miserable truth .is less helpful than happy. It should be the function, of the Press not to fight *ihe Germans but to tell us where we stand."