Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), Monday 17 January 1870, page 3


THE ADVANTAGES OF THE PRESS.

A writer of the article entitled " French Politics," in The Times, remarks:— "Paris is beginning to breathe more freely, and we have some hope to be rid soon of the Kinck and Traubmann nightmare. You must be nearly as tired as we are here of that loathsome tragedy; I will not, therefore, dwell upon it except to state that it has afforded a strong argument in favor of your mode of public inquiry in crimi-nal matters, and against the much-boasted French principle of secret examination. If the examination had been truly secret,-if the news-papers, urged on by ardent competition, had not taken the whole affair in their own hands, send-ing reporters and hourly publishing their re-ports,-it is most likely that the murderer would have escapod, the crime would be still clouded in mystery, and, what is still worse, the names of the victims themselves stained with un-

founded but indelible suspicion. The united exertions of tho press and the public have done all, from the arrest of Traubmann at Havre down to tho tardy discovery of the eldest son in that very field of Pantin which the police had so strangely neglected and surrendered to the mob as worthless for further inquiry. Thus far our 'literary' press has done good service, and atoned in a certain measure for its criminal novels and its old habit of feeding exclusively

on crime."

The Journal des Débats contains a leading article in which that paper proves the îmmense use the press has been in bringing to light many

circumstances connected with the Pantin mur-

ders which would otherwise have escaped the notice of the police. The press, writes the Débats, has acted the part of a police magis-trate of public opinion. The press has been accused of interfering with the action of the police. This is utterly false. A similar accu-sation was laid to its charge on a recent occa-sion, when it was said to havo meddled in military operations by sending out special cor-respondents to follow the movements of armies in the field. These special correspondents were ungraciously receivod at head-quarters. They were even forbidden to make reports that did not coincide with the official despatches. How-ever, the correspondents were not discouraged, and on many occasions the public apprieciated the service they rendered. During the Cri-mean campaign, for instance, remarks the Débats, was it not the correspondence in The Times which, by revealing with pitiless frankness the vices of a superannuated organisa-tion, contributed to save the English army ? The hideous pictures of battlefields, carefully omitted from the official íeports, those sketches of war as it in reality is, did they not excite the public conscience against that system of mur-dering en masse, and contnbuto more efficiently to make war unpopular than all the special pleading of philanthropists and all the speeches delivered at peace congresses ? But more especially valuable is the press in the divulging of orime. The intervention of the press, by calling the attention of a population to a fact, and informing it day by day and hour by hour of the slightest circumstance of a crime, the re-pression of which is a matter of public interest, transforms itself into an auxiliary of justice. At the same time, it stimulates tho zeal of all functionaries and agents commissioned to pro-tect tho persons and the property of the public, and makes it for them a point of honor to cap-ture the criminal, and, in case of their failure, it calls the attention of the public to tho ineffi-ciency of the judicial machinery and the neces-sity of improving it.

Mysteriously disappeared from her home, near Wilton-crescent, London, Friday, 15th in-stant, a young lady, twenty years of age, middle stature, glossy dark-brown hair, coffee-colored brown eyes, small mouth, and good teeth; was last seen (in plaid poplin walking dress and black hat with raven feather) at Victoria Sta-tion, oarrying small red "necessaire" supposed no other luggage. Information to Mr. Pollaky, Private Inquiry-office, 13, Paddington-green, London.-Advertisement in the Times.

Dr Temple, the Bishop designate of Exeter, presided at a great meeting held at Manchester in connection with the movement for the total suppression of the liquor traffic, and met with a very warm reception. He said, although he

was not a member of the Alliance, circum-

stances might anse to induce him to join them. Supposing it to be wrong to put a stop to the liquor traffic altogether, still, he thought, some-thing might be done to remove the temptation of the beer-houses and public-houses from the working classes.