Indiscretion Admitted

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 49, 26 February 1941, Page 6

Indiscretion Admitted

Solicitor-Generals Interview With Ostler LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Feb. 25. “I now recognise it was indiscreet of me to interview Ostler at all,” states the Solicitor-General (Mr. H. H. Cornish) in a letter to the Prime Minister (Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) in reference to the interview he had with Harold Alexander Ostler before his trial in the Supreme Court at Christchurch for attempting to publish a subversive statement. Mr. Cornish’s letter was by way of a reply to a memorandum seut to him by the Prime Minister. Mr. Fraser quoted from a newspaper report of the remarks made by Ostler when addressing the jury in his own defence. Mr. Fraser then continued: “After perusing the report, will you please in form me whether the statements reported to have been made by Ostler are correct in whole or in part? In order that the Government may give immediate consideration to the matter, please furnish me at the earliest possible moment with a full and explicit statement regarding anything and everything that may have transpired between you and Ostler having a bearing on the case under review, You will, i think, agree that, on the face of it, the matter is of a most serious nature, affecting, as it does, the administration of law' and the integrity of the Government and its officers, and calls for a most searching and urgent examination.”

Mr. Cornish’s letter to Mr. Fraser, dated February 20, is headed “re Ostler” and reads: “I enclose a statement about the above matter wjjjich was read in Court in Christchurch and published in the newspapers. I would like to add that, on reflection, I now recognise it was indiscreet of me to interview Ostler at all. My chief regret is, however, that, as a result of what I did, Ostler was able to make a statement that I had the authority of yourself and the Attorney-General to discuss the matter with him.”

In his statement read in Court, Mr. Cornish said he did not have that authority, nor had he held himself out to Ostler as having had it.