GOVERNMENT PATRONAGE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5567, 16 May 1896, Page 7

GOVERNMENT PATRONAGE.

(From the Lytielton Times.)

We thought when noticing th< criticism of the Hon John M'Kenzie's speech at Rangiora the other day that it was quite unnecea« sary to say a single word in refutation of the abßurd assertion thai Ministers employ . " large sums ol the taxpayers' money " in subsidising "newspapers of the right colour;" but a correspondent, for whose opinion we have a very great respect, suggests that our silence is likely to be misconstrued. Wehave little fear of sucharesult, but it mayperhapsbe well to remind our readers that the parlia. mentary paper by which Sir Robert Stout hoped to convict the Ministry of an improper distribution of Government advertising had an exactly opposite effect. The only two lines in the document that gave the least colour to Sir Robert's insinuations were those that showed that the Nemo Zealand .Times Company — a corpora* tion in which the Premier and one oz two of his colleagues have some interest — received <£521 7b 2d last year for Government advertising, while its rivals, the proprietors of the Evenhig Post, received only £254 10s during the earne period. . But even this is easily explained. The Neio Zealand Times Company publishes two newspapers, a daily morning and a weekly, which have a wide circulation in the country districts, while the proprietors of the Poet concentrate their efforts on an evening journal which, admirable as it is, cannot he expected to penetrate as far as its contemporaries. • That the division is a very fair one, and* in no way influenced by the political "colour" of the newspapers, may be shown by referring to the position in Dunedin. In that city there are two newspaper offices, oneissuingamorning and a weekly, and the other an evening journal only, and both favouring the Opposition. The amount paid to the proprietors of the two newspapers last year for Government advertising was '£410 Os lid, and to the pro. prietors of the single newspaper £215. In what respect does this distribution differ from the distribution in "Wellington? In almost every other large centre the Ministers' "patronage " seems to have been employed agftinst their own supporters. In Auckland the Ministerial journals received £400 10s 6d, the Opposition £529 Os 5d ; in Kapier the Ministerial £135 14s 6d, the Opposition £201 14s ; in Invercargill the Ministerial £152 15a 6d> the Opposition £171 14s sd; in Chrißtchurch the Ministerial £454 10s 2d, the Opposition £448 7b 9d. The fact is, of course, that Ministers do not trouble themselves about the distribution of advertisements. That is a detail of administration that is very .properly left to the heads of departments, and our correspondent may be, quite sure that these gentlemen, who, as a rule, have no particular love for the advocates of reforms, will look very closely after the interests of the Conservative Press.

W. Strange Jand Co. are now showing 1 enormous stocks of carpets, floorcloths and linoleums, and invite inspection. Confound it! said a testy old gentle* man, the proprietor and editor of this paper ought to be prosecuted; I was just reading a vwq pithy little paragraph, and found it wound up by advising me to take Woods' Great Peppermint Core for Coughs and Colds, sold by all Grocers and Chemists; the price was only lsOd, butth* advice was invaluable.