"A DELIBERATE LIE"

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 137, 8 December 1919, Page 3

"A DELIBERATE LIE"

SIR JOSEPH AND THE CHRIST-

CHURCH PRESS,

Speaking at Leeston on Friday evening, Sir Joseph Ward issued a challenge to the Christchurch Press with reference to its allegations that there was a pact between the Liberal Party and the Labour extremists.

Sir Joseph (reports the Press) opened by saying that he wished to speak of a deliberate lie that had appeared in the columns of the Christchurch Press. He would like to ask the directors of The Press if they paid a man to tell a deliberate lie for the purpose of influencing ah election. He invited the person to whom he had referred to come out into the open and take action against him for the statement he had made and was going to make. '''

Sir Joseph then quoted the following passage from The Press:—"The support of the Reds in Parliament has been pledged to the Liberal Leader; the arrangement between the Reds and the Liberals, although denied, is a fact, and is doubted by none but very simple people. It is the duty of all good citizens to make impossible the grasping of power by a combination between the Liberal Party and the Reds, and they can do this only in one way: by voting directly against the Wardist candidates. Only thus will they effectively range themselves against the forces of disorder of which we had a manifestation last night."

Such a statement, Sir Joseph continued, was a deliberate lie. In the House of Representatives he had made it clear that he would not take office if he had to depend on' the support of the extremists in Parliament. Ho had said so in public, and in the presence of the extremists he referred to. He had said in public that he was against direct action and force. He was the only leader who had put up an opponent against Mr. Holland and Mr. Fraser, and an Independent candidate was standing against Mr. Semple. The Labour extremists in Parliament, when they opposed public men, chiefly directed themselves against him. He had put up Liberal candidates against them, and in one place he had refused to put up two men, because if he had done so the split would probably have let the extremist in. _ That man, the editor of The Press, which professed to be a decent journal, must know the position. He (Sir Joseph) would say that the directors who professed to own an organ that was a guide to the public were responsible for the deliberate lie that was meant to mislead. He himself was the last man who would take exception to criticism, but when one found such a deliberate attempt to mislead, one must at least call attention to the need for the fair treatment of public raesn, no matter how much one might be against them.

A similar deliberate attempt against him had been made before, Sir Joseph continued, and he had taken no exception to it, but he did not feel disposed to lie 'quiet under such an untrue imputation._ He had never once discussed the political situation with either Mr. Holland or Mr. Fraser, and there was no agreement- of any sort between them. That was tho absolute truth, and he was prepared to offer a public challenge to the editor of The Press and the directors. He would put down £500, to be given to any charities that any independent persons might select, if they would do the same and come into the'open and make a charge against him, or disprovo what he had said concerning his associations with the Labour extremists.

On returning to Wellington yesterday, Sir Joseph complained that his refutation had not been telegraphed out fully by the Press Association.