Doubts on leak’ pamphlet

Press, 6 November 1978, Page 1

Doubts on leak’ pamphlet

By

PHILIP WORTHINGTON

An attempt to use the | Canterbury Trades Coun- ; ci! to distribute a pamphlet ' capitalising on the “leak” I of a National Party camj paign advertisement script | is likely to founder. The pamphlet purpons I to be sponsored by the '. “Trade Union Committee ' for the Promotion of ! Credibility.” It quotes in I full the script’s text and I camera instructions for a ; National Party television I advertisement on indusi trial relations. I A Watergate-type row j erupted on Friday when I the Prime Minister (Mr

Muldoon) said at a special press conference that a complaint had been made to the police about a sus-

pected break-in and tampering with the lock of a cabinet containing the. only copy of the script. Since then, 300 copies of the pamphlet have been delivered by courier to the secretary of the Canterbury Trades Council (Mr L. G. Morel), who will recommend to a meeting of the council today that

it be destroyed. Mr Morel said last evening that he had not heard of the "Trade Union

Committee for the Promotion of Credibility,” but that he “imagined it was a group in Wellington.” The pamphlet artlessly masquerades as a copy of correspondence to "R” from an advertising agency, seeking comment on the advertisment, and the advertisment with comments by “R.”

The whole is contrived i to suggest that the author i of the comments is the ; Prime Minister. Mr Morel said that the typewritten text for the 1 advertisment, which con- i tained "lies and half-truths I aimed at promoting bigotry : and hate,” was genuine, j but he did not. accept the \ veracity of the rest.

“I suspect they are not ' genuine,” he said, referring to the hand-written annotations. “They are there to highlight aspects of the text, but I do not believe they are done by any . National Party person.”