THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL NEWS.

West Coast Times, Issue 1633, 22 December 1870, Page 2

THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL NEWS.

To the Editor of the West Coast Times

and Ohse7'ver.

Sir — There is a question I have put lately to many gentlemen of my acquaintance, without being able to obtain a satisfactory answer, and I take the liberty to direct the same to you, hoping that you will oblige me in your next issue with an explanation. The question is this : — Who is the gentleman that selects the telegrams of the Cati forman m ril for the New Zealand Press ? The Californian mail has of late fallen in discredit, on account of its utterly unreliable war telegrams. Thus, for instance, the last mail but one brought us the news of the death of Count Von Moltke, the illness of T»rince Frederick Charles, and terrible defeats of the German urmy before Paris and Orleans. We know that the Suez mail contradicted every item of these tidings. For my own part, I was already convinced of their unreliableness long before the arrival of the Suez mail. I was convinced of it as soon as the San Francisco paper, the News of the World, had come into my hands. There I detected, to my great astonishment, that nearly all the most important telegrams from the Prussian side (which have always proved very reliable) had never been transmitted at all to the Press, but that all the rumors from Tonrs and French quarters — rumors which may mostly be stated to be mere rumors— had been by that intelligent gentleman selected as fit to be telegraphed to the New Zealand Press. Thus, for instance, the Neios of the World says:—" A lead coffin was brought through Chalons, and the people looking on surmised that it contained the corpse of Count Von Moltke ;" and the gentleman of the Pr.'ss Association gave us then this telegram, in plain words : — " Moltke is dead . The same of the terrible defeats of the Prussians around Paris, the Francisco papers distinctly stating this news to be mere rumors coming from Tours ; but the Press gentleman selected for us all these and similar tit-tats, almost completely neglecting the Prussian accounts. I could multiply single instances by the dozen, but let us now for a few moments turn our attention to the telegrams of the latest Californian mail, which the West Coast Times brought out in Tuesday's issue. " A Tours despatch reports a great defeat of the Prussians at Orleans." " Unauthonticated despatches report the defeat of the Prussians at Artonay." " The Germans have been defeated near Tours." " There are six fresh armie* outside Paris, numbering 530,000 troops ; money, clothing, and ammunition plentiful." "The rear of Von der Tann will he probably cut off to-day." " Hamburg is bombarded." All, a9we perceive, news from French quarters, and quite unauthenticated. There is another telegram about a riot in Paris, where Favre, Gamier, and Simons were mnde prisoners ; for more particulars regtrding such an important affair you look in vain, but the Press gentlemen favors us instead with a selection of telegrams such as this — " The Parisians refuse to permit the removal of the Empress's cashmere shawls," and similar as important proceedings. The gentleman selecting the telegrams for the New Zealand press is greatly responsible for the utter contempt with which the news brought by the San Francisco mail is received by the New Zealand public. The editor of the West Coast Times will oblige me and the public generally by giving us an explanation how and by whom this intelligent selection of telegrams is managed. I am, &c, A.B.