CORRESPONDENCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 1012, 3 November 1917, Page 6

CORRESPONDENCE.

TO THU liDlTOn. Sir, —You took the liberty ol deleting' part of my previous lot lor, which you declare you did iu order to avoid a. possible prosecution for libel. 1 his in my opinion m an excuse without. being a reason. 1 assert, that, if there were any jibe! it was contained in your lending article, when you told us that Massey and Ward were smiling; with heavy casualty lists coming in, bringing sorrow and desolation to thousands of Now Zealand homes. 1 tint prepared to defend Massey and Ward against your accusation. 1 don I believe, that these gentlemen were smiling, and if you won’t apologise to the I,about Party of Palmerston North, you at least should apologise to Massey and Ward for voui —to put it mildly—rash statements. i again deny your baseless assertion that the meeting hold last. Monday ('veiling was a "hole and corner” one. 'lhe was announced at a public meeting of citizens when there were about one thousand people assembled. Supposing even 1 were so 1 emperainentallv constituted as to be willin.,- to plav the”part of the informer, what u-e would' it be? The Governments attention has been directed repeatedly to the seditious statements of various fanners, including one, made by a farmer in the South Island, but no action was taken. Mr Ilordman himself made a statement in •die House, on the Six O’clock ('losing Bill which, in mv opinion, was infinitely stronger than any of the statements made by die various Labour men who have suffered imprisonment. You are aware of these various si a lenient-;. Have you lodgeo information with the authorities regarding diem'" If riot, whv not? ho sum up. 1 have proved that your statement regarding die. “hole and corner” meeting is false, and that when your misstatement has been pointed out to you, you have tailed to do what was honourable, namely, apologise, --•I am. etc.. , b- b ( .JSS. Palmerston North, Nov. o, 1917. [Mr Ross says he has proved that our statement regarding the hole and corner meeting was lals.e, but. we, submit that lie has done ’nothing' of the kind. -M a small meeting, attended by Mr Ross and a few oi ids friends, it was decided to circulate a petition demanding that the present Government resign office. 9 his meeting was not advertised m the usual way, and the fact that it was to' be- held was known only to the persons who met to hear Mr Semple's address on the previous Sunday evening, those people constitute a verv small proportion of the electors of Palmerston, who number between eight and nine thousand, and for a few of them, in the, name of “the electors of Palmerston North,” to call upon the National Government to resign is a piece, of impertinence, and of which only men of Mr tius’s type would be guilty. His allegation that we stated Mr Massey and Sit Joseph Ward were smiling while- heavy casual tv lists were coming in is pure invention. We said they were smiling—as they may well do at the puny attacks of such opponents as Mr Ross—but. made no reference to ‘‘heavy casualty lists._ Mr Puss’s poverty of argument, on this question will cause Ids few admirers much sadness.] _