(PUBLISHED BY ARRANGEMENT.) MR. T.M. WILFORD'S CHALLENGE.

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 144, 16 December 1919, Page 8

(PUBLISHED BY ARRANGEMENT.) MR. T.M. WILFORD'S CHALLENGE.

The Rev. G. Knowles-Smith, referring to the Nation article on me, says :

"As the alteration was made during Mr. Wilford's term as Minister for Justice we want to know who authorised the circular making the alteration." He further says : "But as Minister for Justice, was he (Mri Wilford) not responsible for the action taken, even though it was done by one of his subordinate officers, say, his under-secretary," and he concludes by saying that I am responsible for the removal of statistics from the Year Book.

I wrote the Under-Secretary for Justice after The Post article appeared yesterday, as follows : 15th December, 1919. Dear Mr. Jordan— Will you kindly inform me : (1) Whether I was a Minister of the Crown when Ministerial authority was given you to. remove the religion of prisoners from charge sheets. (2) Whether I was a Minister of the Crown when Ministerial authority was given to remove the statistics from the Year Book, showing the, religion of convicted persons.. I would he glad if you would record your reply on this letter, so that I may use my letter and your reply at the same time.

Yours truly. THOMAS M. WILFORD. Here is the reply of the Under-Secre-tary for Justice : Dear Mr. Wilford— In answer to your two questions 1 have to say. that you were not a Minister of the Crown when Ministerial authority was given to deal with Charge Sheets, and the question of the publication and removal of statistics from the Year Book does not come within the province of the Minister of Justice. And you had nothing to do with the statistics or the Year Book at all. C. B. JORDAN, Under-Secretary for Justice. 15th December, 1919* , The circular issued by the Under-Sec-retary, dealing with religion on Charge Sheets, not with statistics in the Year Book, was issued by Mr. Jordan in 1918, under Ministerial authority received by hun before I became a Minister. Will the Rev. G. Knowles-Smith now read Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 13, and then publicly apologise to me, even if he will not accept the challenge. THOMAS M. WILFORD.