MINISTER’S STATEMENT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 256, 28 October 1937, Page 9

MINISTER’S STATEMENT

NON-rUBLICATION COMPLAINT STAR-SUN’S REPLY 1 I’cr Press Association. ] CHRISTCHURCH, Oct. 27. The Hon. H. T. Armstrong’s complaint in the House yesterday concerning the non-publication of his unemployment statement is answered editorially in to-night’s Star-Sun: “Such a statement is news only to daily newspapers which number not 140, but 56, ajjd most of the daily papers are too small to be able to give space to official statements published by city and chief provincial journals,” says the editorial. “In the particular instance under notice a fact to be remarked is not that so few journals published the statement, but that so many of them were prepared to overlook what appeared to be a piece of pronounced favouritism on the part of the Minister. Although Mr. Armstrong stated that copies were posted direct to 140 newspapers on October 15, ‘in such manner as to ensure that they reached a large number simultaneously, the truth is that one Wellington newspaper was given an advantage of 36 hours over all the morning newspapers in the Dominion and 48 hours’ advantage at least over all other evening newspapers. Copies of the statement -vere despatched from Wellington, not on October 15, but on October 16, after it had been published in the capital cdy. If Mr. Armstrong had followed th-3 usual course in such matters he would either have named a date for simultaneous publication, or he would have handed the document to lhe Press Association, which would have made sure that all newspapers v.;ere treated alike.”