NEWSPAPER COMMENT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3654, 15 October 1912, Page 5

NEWSPAPER COMMENT.

HASTINCS “TRIBUNE” AND THE LAND BOARD. THE COMMISSIONER REPLIES. Prior to the commencement of business at the meeting of the Hawked Bay Land Board yesterday the Commissioner (Mr R. T. Sadd/referred t-, a- paragraph which appeared in the Hastings "Tribune,” and later appeared in one of the Gisborne paper;-, concerning the Board. The paragraph was as follows: —“The Hawke’s Bay Land Board can hold its own with most local bodies when it comes to putting up a record for dawdle. If the County Council or Borough Council worked* at the same pressure they would be in continuous session. An ordinary four-hour sitting would be worthless.'’ The Commissioner said that he r- - sented this. Mr Birrell: I should say so.

The Commissioner, continuing, sab; that they did not particularly want reporters present and the business or tne Board was just a matter between landlord and tenant. In other place—Canterbury and Nelson—for instance, the reporters did not attend, the meetings, but he resented paragraphs like the one referred to which would be copied by a great number of papers all round New Zealand. ThBoard on the occasion mentioned met at 10 o’clock and the former minute ■ took 2-5 minutes to read and approve He reviewed several items iii the minutes to give members an idea, of whan was being done, and that took a quarter of an hour, making 40 minutes. Then that left 140 minutes to put through thirty items (an average of 5 minutes each) and during the course of that business they had nv-.= applicants before them to examine. There was not much dawdling about that. It did not matter whether they were dawdling or uot; They were there to deal with the business and to give everything before them full consideration and go into matter thoroughly and they were not- mere to be answerable to newspaper reporters or others as t-o whether they dawdled or not. It was a matter mom between the Land Board and. the tenants than what reporters think of the method of doing business. There warno other method of dealing with the paragraph for in his official capacity lie said he could not answer it. Therefore he took tilts opportunity to refei to the matterMr Vlight said that he was glad that the matter had been brought up for he, like other members, thoughtit was a- reflection on the Board. H-' had always looked on it. however much time might be. devoted to discussing any' question, that it was a matter between the Board and the tenants. It was very necessary that they should consider every point because there might be ail injustice done by too much haste. Mr Hyde said that as an old member of the Board he would like to point out that when there’ were two papers only one reporter used to an tend, but now there were - mree. "When in Canterbury some years agile saw no reporters at the Land Board’s meeting, and he asked the manager of the “Lyttelton Times” why they did not attend. He replied that they never reported these meetings, hut got the business from the minutes as they considered it was a. matter between the Land Board and the tenants. He had been sitting op the Board a good many years and this was the first time he had ever heard anything of the kind being said. Mr Birrell said that perhaps tE? "Tribune” wanted the Board to make their meetings to suit that paper’s convenience. If they had taken two days to get through the work at th - last meeting it would have been gee*! business. The ordinary business of the Boar-1 was then proceeded with.