CHARGE AGAINST BISHOP.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 399, 17 May 1922, Page 6

CHARGE AGAINST BISHOP.

CASE AT SUPREME COURT.EXPLANATION BY DEFENDANT, (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, May 16. \t the hearing at (he Snproino Court today against Bishop Liston, who is charged with using .-editions language, the first witness was Gordon Stanbrook, a press reporter. Answering Judge Stringer, witness said that what ho wrote for Ins paper was practically a verbatim copy of part of his note?, changed from the first person into the third person. Hi? Honour asked: “Are vou sure of the expression 'murdered by

foreign troops !’ ’- Witness: Ves. Replying to Air Aleredifli, witness said he did' not take the whole of die speech, but nothing else, that was said would have altered the tenor of bis report. To His Honour: The expressions were not qualified in any way. There was no doubt about the use of the words “murdered by foreign troops,” the reference to “die glorious Easier of 1916.” and of “men and women willing to die.” Mi- Meredith: What did voir- mean when vou said von took only what yon wanted? Witness: What I considered of public interest. I did not take a shorthand note. Counsel: As it not a risky thing to say part of the speech is verbatim, when you took it in longhand? Witness: It is possible to remember some passages. He admitted .some of his evidence differed from that given in the lower court. He had to rely almost entirely on his memory. . Do you still think the people referred to by the Bishop were those who died at Easier. 1916. T , . . .. Witness: On consideration, 1 think me reference also concerned people who died after Easter, 1916. Do you s«iy the Bishop said ihuh women during Easier week were murdered by foreign, troops , Witness; Wes. He had a list in his hand. The oilier evidence lor the ( rotvn was mainly on the lines of the. proceedings in the lower court. . For the defence, Mr P. J. o‘Rcgan said the jury must he satisfied that the ropoit mi which t lie'charge was based, which was admittedly brief, was also inaccurate. Bishop Liston had preserved the notes of hi.- speech and they would be put in._ 'The jury would have no difficultv in deciding after hearing the Bishop, that'he had'no seditions intention and that the words, it properly reported. were not capable of that interpretation. Words had to he taken in their setting. and it was altogether inilair to eta as had boon done bv the press throughout New Zealand, to publish what the Bishop had said in one paragraph isolated from its context and to make drastic comment npoip il as a result. Jlc had no hesitation in saying that this''was tiie class ot case which pur the jurv svstem to the severesi test. EVIDENCE BY DEFENDANT. Giving evidence, Bishop Liston he had never been a member of the ‘SelfDetermination League. He was a native ot Dunedin, and his parents arrived in 1863 or 1864. They were born in 1847 and 1859 respectively. ' He admitted thar the report ot his speech regarding their being driven froiff Ireland and “snobs ot tlie -Empire” was .substantially correct, _ He was referring to the eviction of bis parents and three and three-quarter millions evicted with them. He was recalling what eviction in Ireland meant. The passage about “the glorious Easter of 1916” did not accurately represent what he.had said. Ibe document from which he read that portion of his speech had come to him through the mad in the afternoon just before the concert. J 1 is words were: “I have here a list of the men and women who vyere proud to die for Ireland during and since 1916. Of these 16 were executed by shooting in 1916, and 52 were killed while lighting during the Easier of 1916, including Terence McSvviney. Lord Mayor of Cork, who died of a hunger strike. ' Eight were executed by hanging, twelve wore executed by shooting and 67. including three vveny murdered by foreign troops. “Those,” said Bishop Liston, “were the exact words I used.” Only those in the last category were, meant to be described as murdered by foreign troops. He did not speak of the Easter week people as being murdered ni all. He did not refer to any women as being killed in Easter week. Nothing would be further from bis thoughts than to refer to those killed in Easter week as murdered. The word “murdered” referred only to those killed in by the Black and Tans, when the policy of reprisals was in full swing. It would have been better to have mentioned the Black and Tans instead of using the word troops, but he, took if bis audience knew the word murdered” was used because’ leading statesmen and Anglican clergy in England employed it in referring to the Black and Jan reprisals. The words “glorious Easter, be ibought, were used parenthetically. _ It was a common phrase applied to that insurrection. At the time it occurred many people in Dublin thought it a mad enterprise, but with the lapse of lime it was lot that those who had died had passed, beyond criticism. By the “first instalment of freedom,” witness referred to the_ treaty. In his opinion it was the gift of God, because it gave political freedom m By “determined to have the whole of n. he meant that: (hough relations had been adjusted by treaty between England and Ireland. there was still a great deal to be done. For instance, the union of the two Parliaments. This could be achieved by friendly agreement without any force. He bad not mentioned force and lie failed to see bow bis words could infer the use of force. Witness had In bis mind a parnl cl between New Zealand and Ireland. The report about ilu-re being “plenty to light and die for Ireland” did not accurately represent liis statement. Quoting horn bis notes, be declared bis words to have been: “God lias made Ireland a nation, and while grass grows and water vans, there will be iuen in Ireland, and women, to light and even io die. that God’s desires may he realised.” He had no intention to infer that physical force should be used. The case was adjourned