FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22415, 31 May 1938, Page 7

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

CO T» BDITOa or TUB PKBSI. Sir, —Your correspondent, “Hinds Farmer,” who has taken the trouble to send me his advice from the backblocks about my letter on the above subject, certainly deserves the reply courteous. lam sorry to disappoint him in his assertion that I must in some way be connected with the Labour Party. I can assure my farmer friend that X have never attended the Geneva Conference or taken afternoon tea with Stalin, and I wear a blue tie. By no stretch of the imagination can I be identified as one of the "Big Four” in the Labour movement—just a simple chap who enjoys reading his morning copy of "The Press” and objects to political acrobats for breakfast; hence my protest. Mr Hiram Hunter’s letter gave me acute indigestion, and I have a perfect right to protect my health. What happens to brilliant men in the Labour Party all over the world I have not the slightest idea. My globe-trotting experience has been confined to my backyard, so I give “Hinds Farmer” with his worldly experience the benefit of the doubt in reference to his assertion regarding the probable loss of votes sustained by the present Government through the defection of Mr Hunter from the Labour cause, which to say the least of it, is ludicrous and of litle importance. In conclusion, I would like to inform Hiram Hunter I am once more back in the garden, my proper sphere.— Yours, etc., R. F. DOWNS. May 30, 1938. 30 THB IDITOB OB THB PBESB. •Sir, —“Hinds Farmer” brings forward his wand of willow to defend Mr Hiram Hunter’s mental brilliance. I have not the least doubt but that Mr Hiram Hunter’s garden would be free from obnoxious .weeds. The assiduity and brilliance of Mr Hiram Hunter’s mental calibre would preclude him from imprudently neglecting his splendidly kept garden, especially his cabbages. “Hinds Farmer” thinks so much of his fallen hero that through his dismemberment from the Labour Party the present Government has loSt thousands of votes. If this is intended for a joke it is a very bad one. One thing is certain: this joke of “Hinds Farmer” will cause hilarious laughter among thousands of Labour supporters. “Hinds Farmer” would have us believe that Hiram Hunter was a man in the purple ranks of the Labour Party as an individual of outstanding ability, also a man of moderation. Had Hiram Hunter possessed these admirable qualities he would still have had to his credit the approval and confidence of his colleagues.—Yours, etc., W. MOSDELL. May 30. 1938, [Subject to the right of reply of Arthur Rae this correspondence is now closed.—Ed., “The Press.”]