Mr Sullivan's Defence.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18525, 29 October 1925, Page 8

Mr Sullivan's Defence.

Mr Sullivan writes us a very angry letter to-day. iii reply to our comments on his methods of electioneering. So far as the letter is concerned which we published yesterday, from a correspondent signing himself "Avon "Elector," Mr Sullivan denies saying that "all the papers of tho Dominion " were bought by the Tory Government " and paid large sums to publish such " articles" as that in which we attacked him a day or two ago. He says that his " whole reference to the matter" was to the advertisements appearing in "practically every newspaper of the " Dominion boosting Mr Coates and the "Reform Party and abusing the "Labour Party"; and he tells us that if we " believe the yarn told us by our " correspondent" we will believe anything against a Labour man. But as we made plain in our footnote, whoever has believed " the yarn" has done so, not because it was told against a Labour man, but because it was told against that Labour man who has "re- " pcated the abominable mis-statement " concerning the mythical proposal to '". cut down the wages of the workers." We did not, and could not, identify Ourselves yesterday with "the silly " yarn" to the extent of saying that it was true. Nor do we do so now. We merely said, and say again, that although it would have been difficult in ordinary circumstances to " believe " that Mr Sullivan could say anything "so outrageous," it was less difficult to do so yesterday than it would have been two or three weeks ago. And we feel bound to add that if our correspondent misunderstood Mr Sullivan's references to the newspapers, it is at least possible that others did the same, and not wholly impossible that Mr Sullivan, if he had known, would not have been greatly disturbed. For Mi' Snllivan does not now correct his misrepresentation of the Government's attitude to wage-cutting. He " denies li absolutely .that he has made any mis- " statement," but does not and cannot deny that ho has stopped short of making the essential statement that wages in most cases would not, under such a scheme, be reduced, but remain stationary or be considerably increased. And in any case Mr SuUivan knows, and has known for some days, if he did not know at the very outset, that the Government has not adopted such a scheme, or approved of it, or even considered it; and if he did not suppose that his method of alluding to it would suggest to most of his hearers that the Government had adopted it, he would not have alluded to it at all.