The Waikato Argus [PUBLISHED DAILY.] A Guaranteed Circulation of Over 7500 Weekly. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1906.

Waikato Argus, Volume XXI, Issue 3360, 14 December 1906, Page 2

The Waikato Argus [PUBLISHED DAILY.] A Guaranteed Circulation of Over 7500 Weekly. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1906.

The cables inform us that Mr A’Beckett, a leading London journalist, has given an address at the colonial institute, in (he course of which he is stated to have accused the colonial press of parochialism, and suggests as one of the remedies for this and other defects the forma tion of a guild of the British Imperial Press, the annual meetings of which should be held in the principal colonial capitals. That such a guild would have the effect of improving the tone of journalism both in the colonies and the old country there can be little doubt It would necessarily have the effect of causing journalists to take a graver view of their duties and responsibilities than at present is the case. Every man who conducts a paper within the Empire 'should feel himself bound to do all in his power to bind the divisions together for the common good, and shouftl urge upon his own legislature the taking of a fair share of the re sponsibility and cost of upholding the Empire, whether against the attacks which may be made upon its commerce by adverse customs duties and commercial regulations, or upon any portion of its territory by the armed forces of hostile nations. We are presuming, of course, that it is an accepted axiom that the prosperity of all depends upon the close unity of the divisions. We believe that ninety-nine men out of every hundred British subjects so think. Such an unity means that there must be a system of give and take, and it is clearly the duty of the journalist to, so far as he is able, check selfishness on the part of the particular community he represents As regards the charge of press parochialism in the colonies, it is an unfair one when made in regard to Imperial questions. The charge is much more applicable to the section of the British press which has discouraged the advances of the colonies in the direction of preferential trade ; these advances have not been the outcome of selfishness, but the result of conviction that the Mother Country has done so much for her children, that now they have reached a robust stage they should repay the debt. The suggestion that the grain products of the colonies should be preferentially treated by Great Britain did not originate with the colonies ; Mr Chamberlain was its author. Canada and New Zealand have granted preference to British manufactures, notwithstanding that Great Britain has not yet reciprocated. This step has been approved almost unanimously by the press of the two countries The press of Great Britain generally opposed Mr Chamberlain’s proposals. On which side of the world, therefore, is the press parochial 1