THE RIGHT OF FREE SPEECH.
TO the editor. Sir,— Our most sapient councillors have issued their edict as follows; —“From this day forward the right of free speech is prohibited in Christchurch.” Here is my answer. On Saturday evening next I will call a public meeting in Cathedral Square to vindicate and uphold our rights to free speech; and, further, to call upon the Government to give us man and woman suffrage in all municipalities. Here are my credentials. Some twelve years ago the Napier Borough Council passed a by-law to a similar effect, and prosecuted the Salvationists under it. I paid counsel to defend them, and instructed him to plead that the by-law was bad, being ultra vires as being contrary to the common law of the realm. The Resident Magistrate upheld my contention. The Council appealed. The Appeal Court confirmed the decision. The Council passed another by-law. I called a public meeting, which asked the Colonial Secretary to disallow it. He did so. For the time the right of free speech was won in New Zealand, —I am, &c. *W. BARKER.
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Bibliographic details
Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIX, Issue 11537, 25 March 1898, Page 3
Word Count
183THE RIGHT OF FREE SPEECH. Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIX, Issue 11537, 25 March 1898, Page 3
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