THE WAIPA POST. Printed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. TUESDAY, 17th MAY, 1932. HAMILTON OR TE AWAMUTU?

Waipa Post, Volume 44, Issue 3178, 17 May 1932, Page 4

THE WAIPA POST. Printed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. TUESDAY, 17th MAY, 1932. HAMILTON OR TE AWAMUTU?

A SLIGHT insight into the difficulties experienced by the newspapers of this Dominion in maintaining a standard of service was given at the last conference of the Newspaper Proprietor's' Association at Auckland in February. A newspaper., is essentially a public enterprise. No other business or undertaking has such a marked influence on the people individually (Or on the community it serves. Therefore Mr Earle, as president of the Association and being thoroughly versed in the difficulties besetting metropolitan and provincial journals from one end of the Dominion to the other, fittingly availed himself of the opportunity to acquaint the people of the very pressing problems which so seriously hampered those responsible for the maintenance of this avenue of public service. There now comes, to the people of Te Awamutu, in the form of a circular distributed yesterday, a more direct evidence of the newspapers' plight. It indicates the extreme lengths to which our contemporary at Hamilton is driven to maintain circulation. It has had to submit in subservience to its larger advertisers in a desperate effort to maintain the spread of such information as the advertiser shall deem expedient. In newspaper parlance it becomes a "throw-away"—a paper which is obviously dependent on the advertiser for its very existence. The natural corollary is that it must first serve its master; its usefulness to the public may only be a secondary consideration, and very certainly if merchant and public interests conflict, the man who pays the piper must inevitably call the tune. That such, a condition 1 of things should have become possible ! is a direct indication of the extremity to which conditions have driven the newspaper. Evidently, all is not well in Hamilton. Te Awamutu becomes a sort of happy hunting ground. And this, in turn, raises a very immediate question for all who have a genuine interest in the welfare of Te Awamutu. Is this town to become a centre for immediate exploitation and ultimate domination by Hamilton interests? Such a question is farreaching indeed, and the people of Te Awamutu and all who share in the progress and service of the town cannot fail to note the trend. It is not a time for biassed parochialism, nor .is it a time for undue consideration )of self-interests. The wider affairs and future of the town aire involved. Yesterday's circular to householders indicates plainly that Hamilton business interests are seeking to force the people to accept an advertiser-controll-ed newspaper, HoWr—it can be ask-ed-7-can this benefit Te Awamutu?' 'Carried to' its logical conclusion, does

it not lead ultimately, if people shortsightedly subscribe to such a policy, to the. complete domination of this town by Hamilton ? That is the question which demands consideration. A newspaper is a medium for good or for ill and it is a by no means happy augury for the future that its existence should be at the will of any advertiser. Experience has proved that gratuitous service in association with the business of the buying and selling leads ultimately to the creation of dangerous and costly monopolies. Given the backing of a subservient newspaper such inroads on legitimate enterprise can become more speedily effective. Hamilton or Te Awamutu ? At which point will purely local interests be controlled —interests not only affecting business but all those things which concern social, educational and domestic activities which arise out of a well-ordered and independent community? That is a vital question which the people of this town and district must at the present juncture earnestly consider, arid, by their actions, decide for the future.