LAWYER CHARGED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 130, 5 June 1933, Page 7

LAWYER CHARGED.

"CONTEMPT OF COURT" BITTER POLITICAL ATTACK. TIGHE'S HILL EVICTION CASr, (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, May 30. A case in which a lawyer is indicted for contempt of Court has arisen out of the Referendum campaign. Mr. Clive Evatt, barrister, son of Mr. Justice Evatt, and well known as a Labour advocate, has been summoned "to show cause why he should not be attached," on July 24, the first day of the next law

term. On April 7 Mr. Evatt delivered a speech at Newcastle urging his audience to vote "No," and in the course of this spcecli he made reflections on the Attorney-General, Mr. Manning, and his connection with the Tighe's Hill eviction trial, in which Mr. Evatt himself was engaged as counsel for the accused. Mr. Manning had been speaking on behalf of the Beform Bill in the Northern district, and Mr. Evatt's comments on him and his actions were, according to the charge, "calculated to prejudice the failtrial" of the accused in the Tighe's Hill case, and tending to obstruct and interfere with the true course and administration of justice."

"Handcuffed"? After Mr. Evatt had criticised the supporters of the Government for their advocacy of the Referendum, one of his hearers asked, "What part does Manning play?" —and then Mr. Evatt let himself go. "To a certain extent," he said, "I am handcuffed. lam in the middle of a long criminal trial. We hope, and you hope, that the 10 boys from Tiglie's Hill, who were railroaded by this particular Manning up to Singleton, where he thought they would be immediately convicted —" This reference to the change of venue in the eviction trial was greeted with shouts of applause, which drowned Mr. Evatt's voice the moment. Then he went on: "This is the same man who is trying to foist this particular bill on the people." Not content with this, Mr. Evatt reverted to the Attorney-General a little later as "this worthy Mr. Manning, who is wandering round the country at your expense—this man who tried to get your Newcastle boys from Tiglie's Hill—this honest man—who, don't forget, tried to get them into a rural area, in the hope that the farmers up there at Singleton" —the shouts of the audiencc rendered the rest of the sentence inaudible. "That's Mr. Manning," resumed the speaker, "this worthy Mr. Manning—his object in sending the boys to Singleton was to get a prejudiced jury—that is this Attorney-General who says he is gong out of politics as fooji as the Referendum is carried. The electors turned liiiu down flat. He is there to advise Mr. Stevens, who pitchforked him into the Upper House and the AttorneyGeneralship," and so 011. Publisher Also Charged. The publisher of the "Newcastle Morning Herald," in which appeared a, report of the speech, including the above sentences, has been joined with Mr. Evatt in the indictment. The case goes to show to what an extent politics encroaches upon every phase of public activity here, and to illustrate the difficulties that obstruct the enforcement of "even-handed justice" both for the individual and the community.