A SERIOUS CHARGE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17529, 12 July 1917, Page 5

A SERIOUS CHARGE.

ALLEGATIONS AGAINST POST

OFFICE. CLERGYMAN’S STATEMENT. [Pee Press Association/] AUCKLAND, July 11. Allegations regarding the. postal sor-' vieo were made by tho Rev Howard Elliott, in the course of a speech at a meeting of the Protestant Political Association. Ho stated that there had been an attempt to stifle tho meeting, alleging that it had revealed corruption in tho .postal service. Envelopes which had contained an invitation to the meeting had, ho declared, been opened and the contents abstracted. > He knew of letters so posted and delivered empty. Other letters posted in due time had not yet boon delivered. Tickets and notices of tho meeting sent to Protestant clergy, and posted in time for delivery last Saturday, were, he- asserted, held up by the Military Censor till Monday, so that in the Protestant Churches last Sunday no announcement of the meeting could bo made. During the City Council elections censorship over the Protestant ■Vigilance Committee’s letters had, he paid*been carried out entirely in the interest of Roman Catholics. Ho road letters which, ho asserted, had been stopped in the post. The chairman, the Rev Principal Garland, said that the charge made by Mr Elliott against tho Post Office was the most serious charge that hud been made in the meeting that night. Ho \ hoped that Mr Elliott was certain that '■ he could prove his statement. The chairman continued: “I hope the Postmaster will hear what has been said here to-night and that ho will take proceedings against Mr Elliott, tor wo are not men if we can sit quietly down here and believe that this is tho condition in our Post Office, which we believe to be above suspicion, and take no action and submit to it. He added that on Sunday last ho was asked, after tho service, “How is it you did not announce the meeting for \\ ednesdav 5 ” His reply was that he had received no notice. His notice was delivered to him on Tuesday.