EMBERTON BILLING TRIAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16870, 7 June 1918, Page 5

EMBERTON BILLING TRIAL.

COMMENTS ON THE CASE. ( AMI'AIGN (if INTIiIGFK. Australian mi-! N.Z. fi',j> Assoc n:i.-n 'Krcd. 7 in., LONDON", ,l-in« aJ Hi: Ixindon an<l proviniinl pi est- en ; t miles to censure the so-called scandalous Hilling trial. The Westminster Gazette' says the trial was an outrageous scandal. . likely to damage mil' reputation for sanity ; a.-id subtlety. The Manchester Guardian rays the publicity given tn the i.c.-pattci ■ 1 inn priii-i-ssi-i is monstrous. Other news- ■ papers condemn Mr. .Justice Da; line's handling of the case. The La:i. ashire , newspapers deplore the admission of idle-j .nations undermining public confidence, while the rules of evident c prevented their ' refutation. In the House of Commons, Lord Robert j ("evil denied that the witness Spencer had/ been sent on a mission to Albania in 1913.' as he asserted in the Billing case. and ! added that Spencer, in 1915, was attached j to an Adriatic mission with which hegave satisfaction. j Several newspapers sharply criticise Mr.; •lustice Trailing "n the ground of weak- j riess. and denounce the accusations 1 against politicians and others as a- gross ; scandal. i rin- Dailv News says that the rp...ion ; whether .Maud Allan was libelled was ; lost in a maze of wild charges against i everybody and anybody, supported by ; witnesses whose evidence suggested the. madhouse or comic opera. The real pur- | 'si- of Pemberton Billing is the destine- ! tion of the reputations of public men who j have served the nation with honour, and ; the trial was the culmination of cowardly j intrigue and slander which has been ; directed against Mr. Asquith and his i associates for three Years. ] Mr. ,T. H. Thomas. M.P.. in view- of th.e serious consequences which mav I follow the trial, protests against the i charges that British statesmen are cor- j rupt traitors. Such reckless assertions are entirely unsupported by the evidence, but. may well have a disturbing effect on the public, be says.