UNBLUSHING IMPUDENCE

Manawatu Times, Volume V, Issue 111, 26 January 1881, Page 2

UNBLUSHING IMPUDENCE

Of all the impudent frauds which have come within our knowledge the person who guides the destinies of the socalled Manawatu Standard is the greatest; and evidently his belief m the gullibility oE the pubiic must be as great as his desire to practice upon it. When the question of the County Council advertising was under consideration the " Journalist of Repute " interviewed Mr. Macartliur privately to see if the oracle could be worked. That gentleman told him that if he hoped to obtain a share he should produce a statutory declaration to the effect that the Standard had a circulation at all appi'oaching to any of the other county papers. Of course such a step could not be thought of, as it would show that instead of his boasted fouv hundred and fifty, the circulation was just one-third of that amount. The hint was therefore not taken, the statutory declaration not supplied, but the truthful editor informed the public that the reason was owing to his being so busy that he forgot all about it. We believe it ! of course we do'! and no doubt so does the public, but how was it that no promise was made that the omission would be rectified. We leave that as a conundrum to our readers Notwithstanding this complete bowl out, the Journalist of Repute still had the audacity to pretend his circulation was equal to those o£ the other papers. We + hen took him m hand, and threw down a direct challenge to prove his words, or for ever bow his head m shame, but the challenge was shuffled out of m a most contemptible manner, the only reply being a series of cowardly anonymous letters concocted m the editorial sanctum. The lesson, however, did some good, for a week or two no more lies were told, at least not about the circulation, and the editor confined himself to the manufacture of the most scurrilous letters upon his contemporary at Feildmg. He has now, however, recovered his last drubbing, and pants to be again dragged through the mire, so m the face of the fact that thp lie has been twice rammed down his throat. he has the mendacious impudencp to again parade the statement m his columns that he has the largest rircnla. tion m the county. We now publicly charge him with publishing a most deliberate falsehood, and making a statement which he knew m his heart and soul was as false as — well, as his own black, treacherous conduct has been to every one who has incurred his hatred by doing him a kindness. False as the signatures which hare been appended to his concocted letters, when he dared not attack openly. False as the dis. play of advertisements which swell his columns, and for which he has never received authority. We never make a charge which we cannot prove, and we nowchargethe Journalist of Repute with clipping advertisements unauthorised from our columns to make the public believe he gets casual advertisements. We make the charge, and for the second time dare him to stake a penalty on the result. If we prove our charge let him give £5 to a charity ; if we fail, we will give £10. The whole paper is emblematic of its presiding genius, a fraud as to subscribers, a fraud as to advertisers, a frau<? m its correspondence ; not a newspaper, but a society journal of the lowest stamp, where actual facts are ignored for the concoction of bogus correspondence, and indecent slanders take the place of public information. Could anyone imagine that the filthy abuse which has been hurled at Mr. Capper could be penned by the same hand that wrote the opening article when the precious Standard was first hoisted. To what a homily was the public treated about the exclusion of personalities, while the new comer prodlaimed himself an apostle of meekness. "Scratch the Russian, and the Muscovite will appear," "The leopard cannot change his spcrts, nor the TStliiopian his skin," and the " reputation " go notorious at Wanganui, Marton. and Feildinsr, was not to be discarded m a day, for well has he made up for the short time the bridle h.id_Jbeen m force. Mr. Stevbns, of Feilding, is a gentleman whom it is only necessary to know to respect, but the indecent way m which his name has been bandied about m the Standard's columns for the paltry purpose of mating personal capital for itself, and venting its cridg' against Mr. Capper, is contemptible m the extreme, and we feel sure does not blind Mr. Stevens as so its real object. The whole con trove ry upon the matter has been cowardly m the extreme — cowardly toward Mr. Stevens, because his feeling^ were ignored m the desire to work its own miserable ends ; and the essence of cowardice m porsißtentlv attacking a foe who would not retaliate. When the ostrich is pursued it. buries its head m the sand, and although the remaining portion of its hncjy is exposed it vainly tmaginps it is hidden from view. When the Journalist of Repute reads this, no doubt he will resolv<> himsplr into "Q," " Critic" or some of the other aliases which he occasionally appropriates, and vainly imagine he has destroyed his identity. "But he has been too lo,ng a shining li^ht to hide his effiileence under a bushel, and his " reputation " is too wide-spread to be covered by a nwudonyiß,