Libel Writ Issued

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 39, 16 February 1938, Page 3

Libel Writ Issued

CATHOLIC BISHOP CITED A libel writ has been, issued against the Catholic Bishop of Auckland, the Rt. Rev. J. M. Liston, by Mr. F. L. Turley, secretary of the N.Z. Timber Workers’ Union. The action is based on tn article which appeared on November 4 in the Roman Catholic newspaper Zealandia, of which Bishop Liston is the registered proprietor. Also cited for libel are the printers of the paper, New Zealand Newspapers, Ltd., and the publisher, Mr. T. J. Sheahan. A notice of the pending action is printed in the latest issue of Zealandia. It states that the Bishop has instructed his legal advisers to defend the action, which is set down for hearing at the March session of the Supreme Court at Nelson.

In October of last year Mr. Turley, as secretary of the Westland Timber Workers’ Union, and Mr. J. Doyle, the president, stated to the Christchurch Press that they had sent a strongly worded telegram to the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, asking him to take action against the Rev. Father K. D. Crowe for his attack on Communism, which was broadcast from 2YA, Wellington, earlier the same evening.

'. An article on the incident of the /broadcast and on the action taken on the protest by the Director of Broadcast, Professor J. Shelley, was printed in Zealandia on November 4.