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Wellington Independent, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3902, 16 September 1873, Page 2

A London newspaper reporter, who was famous in his day and who was really an able man, once declared that in describing public occurrences, he " declined to be hampered by facts." The declaration, as made, was a sneering boast ; but it did not involve an untruth. Facts are not always consistent with effect : that man wrote for effect, and he thought that he gained by sacrificing facts whenever they were not plastic enough to " work up" well. There are in New Zealand a good many small imitators of that celebrated London reporter. True, they do not find facts to stand in the way of effect, in writing, because they are not able to write effectively. But they can be personal ; and if their personality is likely to be irritating to a public man or to the staff of a Government department, they will not risk the loas of its effect by getting the smallest knowledge of facts. The writers for the Dunedin "Evening Star " are certainly not of this class of imitators ; but there was lately a paragraph in that paper censuring the Electric Telegraph Department, which, we think, would not have been published if the writer had had knowledge of his subject, or had sought for facts connected with it. Speaking of the transmission of the summary of the statement of the Public Works Minister, the "Star" said that the department " can use great expedition when it likes ;" the proof being that, "close upon 3000 words" of the statement were "transmitted in two hours." No doubt, the summary was very quickly and correctly telegraphed. Why? Because, as the "Star" states, the work was commenced at 10 o'clock and finished at midnight, when the wires were perfectly clear; and as the "copy" was probably prepared with care, there was nothing to interfere with the full effect of the power of the best operators. But the " Star" writer added, "on ordinary occasions, messages of barely 100 words will occupy double and even treble the time." We feel sure that the transmission of such a message never did "occupy" such a time, v cry probably several hours have passed between the handing of a 100 -word message to the clerk in Wellington (for example) and its delivery to the person to whom it was addressed in Dunedin. Again, why ? Not because there was delay or any kind of neglect ; but because such a result was inevitable. The " ordinary occasions" of the "Star" will no doubt be the ordinary times when its messages are presented for transmission, viz., about the middle of the day. Let it be supposed that at such a time all the other conditions are as favorable as they were between ten o'clock and midnight when Mr Richardson's statement was telegraphed — though, it is practically impossible that they ever should be so — and that the wires between Wellington and Dunedin are clear of all work but that of transmitting to the South. Let the " Star's" 100---word message be handed in about noon. Is it supposed by our contemporary that the transmission of that message would necessarily be commenced at once ? Such would certainly not be the case. The message would be sent in its turn ; and, in the impossibly favorable circumstances we have supposed, its transmission from Wellington would probably not be commenced for an hour or more. A very small amount of information as to the inevitable state of things in any important telegraph office during the busiest part of the day, would stop nine out of ten of the complaints now made — except in the cases of those who despise facts and will not be influenced by information. No one is stupid enough to suppose that any manufacturer ought to keep such a stock of machinery under steam as to secure that every order received should be instantly "put in hand ;" but it is scarcely less stupid to grumble grievously because the Telegraph Department does not put up such a number of wires and keep such a number of operators as to enable the transmission of every message to be commenced immediately it is handed in. Such a comparison is fair, though there is not parallelism. We do not suggest that the Telegraph Department is faultless ; but when only reasonable complaints of delays are published, it will seem — even to those who gloat over the present not reasonable complaints as evidence of one phase of the many-phased iniquity of Government departments — that something near to faultlessness has been achieved by the Telegraph Department.

As it is probable thaj; the House of Representatives may be invited to consider to-day the proposals for a new San Francisco service which were placed before the House a few days ago, it is proper that we should correct an error which we committed when we published the telegram from Mr Thomas Russell. We inadvertently stated that the £12,000 of postage which the Hon the Postvn asterGeneral aaid would be received in reduction of the subsidy of £40,000, would bo on account of postages paid by other colonies, whereas we should have ex-

plained that the amount was estimated to be derived ft'om postages within the colony, and that any postages from other colonies would be so much more to the good.