PARTY JOURNALISM.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3097, 12 January 1871, Page 4

PARTY JOURNALISM.

*. [From the Lttteiton Times, January 9] The extreme eagerness with which some of our contemporaries seize on anything which might have the effect of embarrassing the Government or obstructing their policy would be ludicrous were it not highly discreditable to the colony and its public press. When news arrived that a great war had broken out in Europe, the Opposition journals could not conceal their frantic delight. At once they pointed out how effectually it would operate against the financial policy of the Government, and they even went so far — some of them at least — as to insinuate that New Zealaud ought to be thankful at such an extraordinary and unlooked for interposition in their favor. That was what their language meant, if it meant anything at all. Uyand-by, however, it became evident that the war in Europe was not going to operate iv the way they predicted. Colonial securities did not go down with' a rush when the Government financial policy was made known on 'Change. They remained stationary for a time, and eventually they began to improve, till, at the date of our latest advices from England, they had risen very considerably all round. No surer proof could be adduced of the feeling towards the colony among English capitalists. Far from being alarmed at the " gambling policy*' of the Treasurer, they continued to say that the colony would have as much money as it required for public works and immigration, more especially as the Government had succeeded in establishing friendly relations of a permanent character with the hitherto disaffected and rebel natives. We don't say that the hint about the attitude of the natives in relation to the Government scheme of public works and immigration has been taken advantage of by the Opposition. But we do say that an alarm has v been raised by Opposition journals upon j very slender foundations just as the mail was leaving for San Erancisco, and just as the Colonial Treasurer was known to be on his way to England with, as was naturally conjeatured, the view of laying the polioy of the Government before those who could give the material assistance required to carry it out successfully. We are alluding, as the public will doubtless understand, to the reported massacres in the Waikato. The report came to us in such a questionable shape that we considered it necessary to warn the public about its authenticity, and, as the event has proved, there was no real ground for alarm, much less solid foundation for the monstrous canard about a massacre, in which 9ixty persons had been killed. That there is restlessness and so-called warlike activity among some of the extreme Hauhaus cannot be doubted. Nor is this to be wondered at, much less is it to be taken as conclusive proof that a serious rising is intended. The murder of Mr Todd was pretty sure to excite those among the natives who are always more or less ready for open violence, and to be seized on as a pretext for armed assemblage by the quasi leaders who have put themselves beyond the pale of Government clemency. These men have at any rate nothing to lose by further open rebellion. They cannot add much to the darkness of the record already hanging over them, and they may gain a momentary importance by being at the Lead of a few tfcoro of armed ruffians. Altogether, the subject has not yet assumed such proportions as would warrant us in discussing it at any length — whatever it may do in the future— were it not for the use that has been made of it by the " Otago Daily Times" and other papers. We have already had occasion to remark that the " Otago Daily Times" is chiefly remarkable for its rabid opposition to the Government, and particularly to the Colonial Treasurer. Its comments upon the reported massacre in the Waikato form a most conclusive instance in point. In order to make the case clear, it is necessary to trouble the public with a fevr quotations. The " mas sacre" was announced in the following telegram, dated Taranaki, via Patea, Dec. 29, 6.30 p.m. :— A mounted orderly from Waiiti camp is just in. Ho reports that four natives have reached there from Mokau, with tho intelligence that sixty persons have been killed in tho Waikato. The telegraphist was tomahawked on the head. The above telegram was published in our columns on January 2, and on the same date the " Press" from exactly the same original telegram, published the following version : — A mounted orderly from Waiiti Camp is just come in. He reports that four natives had reached there fromMokau, with the intelligence that sixty persons had been killed in Waikato. The telegraphist wns tomahawked on the head. It will be seen that the two versions, or translations, of the same telegram are almost identical. There is ouly the merest verbal difference. Now for the "Otago Daily Times" version of, be it remembered, the same original, for all the papers received the Press Association's telegrams at that time. We ought, in justice to the, "Press" and the "Otago Daily Times," to note that the former headed its version with the sensational announcement of " Alarming Native News — 60 persons killed." The " Daily Times" translates the telegram as follows : — A mounted orderly has just arrived at Waitai Camp , with despatches annoncing that four natives had arrived there from Mokau, bringing intelligence that another outbreak 7iad taken place in the Waikato, and that sixty persons had been slaughtered. Among those murdered was the Telegraphist of the station. Those who take the trouble to compare the three versions will see that the words we have printed in italics are a pure invention, an unwarranted addition to the original on the part of the " Otago Daily Times." There was not a single word in the telegram as it came to this journal about " another outbreak," and we are therefore justified in saying that our contemporary drew upon his imagination to distort, and make definite, a very indefiinite report from a source that experience ought to have taught him was not very reliable. But this ia not all. Having made " another outbreak" in the Waikato, our contemporary must needs proceed to desoribe it iv a leading article. This is what he says : — A dreary proapeot for the new year is opened out in tho Native intelligence that has just reached us from the Waikato. If the telegram is at all a truthful representation of facts, the horrors of the Poverty Bay massacre have been eclipsed by a still more atrocious outrage — eclipsed not only in the gloomier nature of the details, but in the more formidable character of the outbreak. One of the outlying settlements in the Waikato appears to have been surprised by a large body of Natives, and a number of the settlers, with their wives and children, have been ruthlessly slaughtered. Suoh is the impression created by the very meagre announcement before us. It is singular that no details of the event were obtained from the Mokau Natives who brought in the intelligence. Tho name of the settlement attaoked is not even mentioned. Taking it altogether, this is a tolerably horrible and startling picture from suoh slender materials. The prospect for the New I Year is " dreary" ; the " horrors of the Poverty Bay massacre have been eclipsed by a still moro atrocious outrage" 5 they have j been eclipsed not only in the "gloomier details but in the more {formidable oharaoter of the outbreak" — and so on. The passage we have quoted is really worth a close examination. It induces 000 to inquire whether the person who wrote it had, for the time, let us charitably say taken leave of his senses. In the first place he speaks of " details"

gloomier than those connected with the terrible massacre at Poverty Bay, and a few lines further down, almost in the same breath, be says there are no details ! He talks about the attack having been made on one of the outlying settlements "by a large body of Natives"-— details supplied by imagination-— and tell ns at the same time that " the name •of the settlement attacked is not even mentioned" ! Then, again, we are told, also by imagination, that the greater number of the settlers, with their wives and children have been ruthlessly slaughtered." It will be admitted, wo thing, that the writer who could supply all these details, with not a single item of detail before him, ia not unworthy to take his place by the side of the Munohausens and Longbows of inventive notoriety. .But, unfortunately, there is another view to be taken of such mendacity. The statements made by a presumedly well-conducted and respectable newspaper may be accepted outside the colony as substantially correct, and thus a great deal of harm may be done. And when the same, and other papers, taking for granted the horrors coujured up by an active and malignant imagination, proceed to say that the Government are altogether unprepared ; that another ruinous and exhausting waris commenced and that the natives are sure to have the best of it, with a good deal in the some strain, it is just possible that the disaffected among the Natives may be encouraged to attempt the atrocities laid to their charge. No one would be justified in asserting positively that other outbreaks of the fanatical Hauhaus will not occur, but the public will agree with us in thinking that on the other hand, an altogether unfounded Btatemraent like that published in the " Otago Daily Times"— a statement garnished with imaginary details of the most startling nature — is in the highest degree reprehensible.

Me Commissioner Branigan, says tho " Hawke's Bay Times" proceeded to Taupo last Monday morning on a tour of inspection of the different posts. Fire.— The "Hawke's Bay Herald" reports that earlyon Wednesday morning, a stable, coachhouse, and carpenter's shop attached to the residence of Alfred Newman, Esq., Waipukurau, were destroyed by fire. The flames were first seen in an upper story, in which some hay waß stored. Nothing is known as to the cause. The property was uninsured. ' English Savages.— Under this head, about twelve months ago, a paragraph appeared giving a description of a family living at Neymeb Rowlaud, in North Devon. Since then, and during the last few days, tho public in Devonshire have again had their attention attracted to this notorious family, on account of some proceedings which a respectable farmer named Partridge, living near them, instituted against them for, as he alleged, entrapping his cattle into a field belonging to them, which has no gate to it, impounding them, and charging Mr Partridge a heavy sum. The family consists of an old man and women, their son, three unmarried daughters, and a numerous progeny of little ones. They all live in an old barn propped up with posts, and this barn has neither windows nor doors to it. There is no domitory in it, and one room, almost destitute of furniture, serves for every domestic purpose, a pit in it being the sleeping place of the whole family. In the summer, many members of the family have been seen in a state of almost nudity at work in tho fields, and nameless vicious acts have been witnessed by the neighbors. Tho duughters of the old man and women, have the voices and manners of rough men. They use the foulest language to passers-by who may be obnoxious to them, and often aassulb with alarming vigor those whom they dislike. On one occasion one of them attacked a respectable farmer of the neighborhood, Mr Carver, with such ferocity that he fainted from loss of blood, and he bears the marks of the blows on him to this day. Encounters between them and neighbors are frequent, and a gun has sometimes been fired by concealed hands, when these fights were going on. Tho savageries of these people are indescribable, and the annoyance and alarm they have caused to the neighborhood is a subject of loud complaint. Many members of the family have suffered imprisonment for divers offences, but they have only returned again to renew their depredations and their nameless obscenities. Missionaries in foreign lands never encountered a tribe of savages who required civilising 'more than this wretched tribe of people in North Devon. They own thirty acres of freehold land, on which they live. Fibst Attempts. — " It will do" is a very bad saying. What costs little labor seldom deserves much praise. If we acquire the habit of thinking that performances are already well enough, while we have the power of making them still better, we shall gradually bestow less and less pains, and still contont ourselves with their execution. The sheet of paper is still extant on which Ariosto wroto an octave, describing a tempest in sixteen different ways, and it was tho last which was preferred. Tasso formed rhymes with great difficulty. ■ Yet these were men of genius. Who, with such examples before them, ought to be contented with first efforts ? It will generally be .found that what is called wisdom may be resolved into the union of a strong taste for some particular study of art, with great industry in mastering it. Tho possessor rarely saya of an indifieront performance, "It willedo." We have Been an easel inscribed with the following motto, " Try Again" j which, perhaps, often shamed its owner out of lazinoss and despondency ; and the same motto is carried by most geniuses in their hearts. We all know how thankless are the services of those who carry the principle "It will do" into their familiar intercourse with others j how niggardly the kindness which it promotes — how scant the good office which it sanctions !