CURRENCY ISSUE

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXX, Issue 274, 25 November 1935, Page 2

CURRENCY ISSUE

INFLUENCING THE PRESS SOCIAL CREDIT AND BANKS Despite the fact that for months, nay, years past, the Press of NewZealand has been more than generous in publishing letters on Social Credit and cognate subjects, complaint is frequently made that the Press has beer) influenced to take a hostlile attitude toward those advocating Social Credit doctrines. Naturally enough, the general"run of readers of the daily newspapers is not anxjious tn have the same subject served up to them day by day and. week by week, in their daily journals. Public interest is always changing, and a successful newspaper editor is the otale who provides the readers of his newspaper with the desirterl changes of subject. There is i,n London to-day an old-established daily newspaper which through its continued harping on the Indian question •has found that its circulation (has declined to a serious degree. The policies of newspapers in the last analysis are not dictated by the proprietors, but by tho readers. The foregoing is sufficient' to explain why the metropolitan dailies of England were not willing to publlfeh as much of the correspondence as the advocates of Social Credit doctrines would wish. No doubt there was much disappointment in the ranks of these advocates, when they were shut Out from the columns of the newspapers, and their confreres in NewZealand evince the) same feelings when similarly treated. There is, however, no reason for bcliieving (that there is anything sllnister in the conduct of the Press in acting in this manner. It ’ is purely commonsense conduct.

Major Douglas has asserted .that the Institute of Bankers in the TTnited Kingdom ‘allocated £5,000,000 to comhat the subversive ideas of .Social Creditors, but no evidence has ever been produced to substantiate that assertion. TEe Douglas Social Credit

movement in New Zealand has repeated the statement, but on being challenged Itlo produce proof, has failed even to make th'e attempt. £5,000,000 is a tremendous sum of money, sufficiently large, in fact, to provide a permanent endowment for a large metropolitan newspaper. It could buy several dailies in< a straight-out purchase. If so (large a sum were set asfido and used as alleged, it would bo impossible to hido the fact from the public. For instance, not a few provincial daily newspapers in New Zealand would be purchased for less than £25,000.

Another allegation which is made is that the newspapers have been influenced by large advertisements inserted in their columns by the Banks. On beidg challenged on this point, the. New Zealand Douglas Social Credit movement alleged that these advertisements appeared for a period of two months only during the visit of Major Douglas to Australia. It seems a strange sense of fairness that the bankers are to remain dumb while a Dominion-wide campaign is carried on, which camlpaign they believe to he based >on an obvious fallacy in .analysis.

As a matter of fact, the bankers have done t ; oo little in the way of correcting those errors which Social Creditors so energetically propagate, and one financial journal in England hias urged the bainiks to take action in the matter of putting their ease before the public.

Instead of influencing the Press either in England, Australia or in New Zealland, the bankers have for too long remained silent when they should have spoken!. That they are now moving in this direction is all to the good.