ALLEGATION OF LIBEL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 762, 19 July 1923, Page 5

ALLEGATION OF LIBEL.

CASE AGAINST MORNING POST. ECHO OF JUTLAND BATTLE. ■■,.'. . - / By Eleotrio Telegraph.—Copyright. Received July 19. 11.35 a.m. LONDON, July 18. Lord Alfred Douglas is suing tho Morning Post for an alleged libel contained in a letter from the editor of the Jewish Guardian which the Post published. The offending paragraph stated that "it must no longer be a paying proposition to men like Crosland and Lord Alfred Douglas to invent vile insults against the Jowb.' 5 Mr Comyns Carr, plaintiff's counsel, said that the Post had attacked a large section of the Jewish race, attributing to them many evils from which the country is suffering, adding that the Post had also attacked President Wilson, Mr Lloyd George and others at the Versailles Conference, alleging that their actions were controlled by Jews. Consequently the only reason for the justification of the alleged libel seemed to be that the Post was actuated by spite and malice against Sir Alfred Douglas. Quoting from the newspaper Plain English, which Sir Alfred Douglas edited, his accusation was that a Certain Cabinet Minister drafted a false report of the Jutland battle which caused such a fall in stockß that a group of Jews had cleared eighteen million pounds profits on the subsequent rise. Mr Hastings, counsel for the Post, intimated his intention to call Mr. Winston Churchill to say why Sir Alfred Douglas was not prosecuted. Sir Alfred Douglas, giving evidence, said that the attitude he adopted towards the Jews injured his newspaper very much because the advertisers boycotted it. He knew he might be'prosecuted for the Jutland article, Dut he risked that, knowing that he was trying to do a bit of good. Asked if he thought it was the action of a gentleman to make statements about a Minister of the Crown, ho said he was no respector of persons and it would not be the action of a gentleman to obscure the truth.—A. and N.Z. cable.