The Waimate Advertiser. PUBLISHED MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY EVENINGS. FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 1914. NEWSPAPER GOVERNMENT?

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XVII, Issue 4, 5 June 1914, Page 2

The Waimate Advertiser. PUBLISHED MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY EVENINGS.

FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 1914. NEWSPAPER GOVERNMENT?

“Multum in Parvo.'

When speaker Willis was “bossing-" the. New South Wales Assembly recently, he elaime.il that he was doing- the State a good turn in asserting the superiority of Parliamentr ary to newspaper government. The idea he wished to convey was that members of Parliament had, whether consciously or not he did not say, got into the way of taking their cite on most important questions from the editorials of the metropolitan dailies. It is quite conceivable that opportunist politicians may sit in Parliament in large numbers who rely upon cert tun influential newspapers to find their policies for them, if newspapers seek to be interpreters of public opinion, they make it their business not only to give a lead on matters of public import., but to make sure that in giving that lead they are fairly well fortified by the counsel of the multitude 1 , which is usually ascertainable without much trouble. At a presentation to Mr Alfred Saunders last night from the journalists of Canterbury upon his retirement from the editorship of the Lyttelton Times abler a tpwrlerof a. century in that position, the recipient was referred to as one of the stalwarts of the Liberal Party. Mr Triggs, editor of the Press, said:—“lt is stated Iliad ••sir Carruthers Gould and Mr {Spender, editors of the Westminster Gazette, were Che two greatest assets of .the- Liberal Party in England. I have; no doubt in -saying that Mr .Saunders is one of the greatest assets to the party to which he belongs, and which he has so loyally supported in this country." Mr Bell, of Ashburton, followed this up by stating that, “whilst he did not claim that, like David Syruo, of the Melbourne Agio, Mr Saunders had conducted the Government of tho country by newspaper, he did claim that he had helped to shape the policy of the Liberal Administration tlumighout the years they were in oflice and had left his imprint on tho law of the country.” It is well known that the Wellington Dominion, with £BO,OOO or £IOO,OOO capital behind it, did pinch to bring about ‘the discrediting of the Ward Government and the consequent placing of Die Reform Party in power. The safeguard against newspaper government in New Zealand is the geographical nature of the country. Unlike New South Wales and Victoria, this Do,minion possesses uo dailies that circulate, throughout the entire State; consequently, any atteimpt. to sway tho opinion of, the whole community per medium ,of the editorials in any one paper must fail. There will always be round.in Now Zealand, we hope, a good mlmbor of that typo of Parliamentarian who holds the mins of his own judgment to such an extent ias, while not ignoring the newspaper tlat, to be able to express an opinion and cast a vole independent of the gospel according;‘to this journalist or that. , ’