THE PROTESTANT POLITICAL ASSOCIATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16895, 6 July 1918, Page 9

THE PROTESTANT POLITICAL ASSOCIATION.

(Published by Arrangement.)

OPEN LETTER No. 3. To the REV. HOWARD ELLIOTT, the P.P.A. EXECUTIVE, and the GRAND ORANGE LODGE. Rev. Sir, Sirs.—At the Post Office Inquiry you. REV. HOWARD ELLIOTT, official lecturer of the P.P.A., when giving evidence, produced four copies of LETTERS. These purported to be signed by Harry Travis, Elizabeth Blackloek, J. Sodcn. and Geo. Hoev, respectively. It is desired to TAKE 'ACTION in order that the falsity of the statements contained in those letters may be PUBLICLY DEMONSTRATED IN A COURT OF LAW. The first of those letter? purports to be signed by Elizabeth Blackloek. By innuendo it alleges that unchastity exists in some

UNNAMED AUCKLAND CONVENT,

and thai at such convent a LIME PIT exists for the disposal of bodies without fear of detection. The following a» questions put to you, REV. HOWARD ELLIOTT, by Mr. Gray at the inquiry, together with your replies :— "Did you write the letter?— I did not.

" Who did it?— Friends, at my dictation.

" Very well, that is practically you. Did they sign their own names?— No. "This is Elizabeth Blacklock. Is that a true name?— No.

" You invented those names?—l did."

I have been advised as follows:—In order to enable the community in the particular convert you had in view when you fabricated the letter in question, to PROTECT THEMSELVES IN A COURT; OF LAW, it is necessary to overcome

TWO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES.

They are: (1) That the communication DOES NOT REFER SPECIFICALLY to the particular convent you had in view; (2) that it is necessary to PROVE PUBLICATION; that the handing in. to the Commission, of the copy of the letter, (when you gave evidence) was done on a PRIVILEGED OCCASION; and th*t, if you roly on this, the Court would, ne precluded from passing judgment otytho merits of the question.

NAME! NAME!

I now ask you to uqtferrtake the PROOF OF THE ALLEGATIONS you made by (1) SPECIFYING PARTICULARLY WHAT AUCKLAND CONVENT YOU REFERRED TO; AND (2) BY ADMITTING " PUBLICATION" AND WAIVING YOUR RIGHT TO SET UP THE "PRIVILEGED OCCASION." I ask you to state publicly, through the columns of this paper, and by rutins of a letter addressed to me, wlie'the;, if proceedings are brought in any Court, in respect of the allegations you,made, you will confine •

YOUR DEFENCE to (1) an assertion that/ the allegations are true; and (2) the question of the amount of damages. A little while ago you were reported in the press of New Zealand to have stated —in the course of, "a speech as a member of a deputation to a Minister of the Crown-that, if a/llegations against Roman Catholics are untrue, "redress could be obtained in the Courts of tho country." (Herald, Star, and Dominion. June 7, 1918.) Will you now, consistently with that statement, PROVIDE AN OPPORTUNITY for the investigation, in Court, of the allegations above referred to? If you refuse to do 50, then the public will know that YOU HAVE MAM ASSERTIONS AND DECLINED TO PROVE THEM. THE ONUS IS ON YOU. In the event of your proving true your abovementioned allegation of unchastity, and of lime pits for the disposal of dead bodies, the, sum of

FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS will be paid to TrLE RED CROSS FUNDS. This amoi/ n is provided by friends. YOU ARE ASKED TO SUPPLY PROOF, NOT FUNDS FOR THE RED CROSS. The columns of this paper are open to you for a REPLY AT MY CHARGE.

on or before July 16, 1918. For this purpose, JU may incur, at my cost, a liability r/ot exceeding £3, for the insertion of a statement that will comply with the revests made above. , T ; HE GRAND ORANGE LODGE. , i include the Grand Orange Lodge in [ this challenge for the following reasons set forth in the joint official organ of that Irish Secret Society and its Political -Association:—(l) The Grand Orange Lodge FOUNDED AND FINANCED the Political (2) The Rev. Howard Elliott is a member of that Irish Brotherhood. (3) The P.P.A. was FORMALLY A BRANCH OF THE GRAND ORANGE LODGE at the time the abovementioned letters were concocted. (4) The joint official organ of the Lodge and of its Political Association publicly ADVERTISES AND RECOMMENDS (as I can most amply prove from its columns) the awful " literature" which contains wholesale accusations of unchastity, lime pits, etc, and tho rest of the atrocious details of the WAR AGAINST UNNAMED WOMEN. Much of that " literature" has been suppressed by various Government (including that of New Zealand) for it:-- noisome and un--1 patriotic character. I JOHN BRENNAN, ! Late Chaplain N.Z. Expeditionary Forces, Administrator, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland.

THE PROTESTANT POLITICAL ASSOCIATION.

OPEN LETTER, No. d,

To the Rev. J. KNOWLES KEMPTON, the REV. HOWARD ELLIOTT, the P.P.A. EXECUTIVE, and THE GRAND ORANGE LODGE.

Rev. Sirs, and Sirs,— time-limit for acceptance of my first two sets of challenges (published June 26), was 11 a.m. on Friday, July 5, 1 was entitled to assume two things: (1) That you had EVIDENCE IN HAND from Canon Law to justify you in publishing the charges of error,, folly and crime that appear in your alleged "summary of the chief tenets of Rome's Canon Law"; and (I) that you were READY TO PRODUCE THAT EVIDENCE ON DEMAND. You could easily have notified your acceptance of these two sets of challenges in a few word.? by LETTER OR TELEGRAM. The published time-limit is now past and YOU HAVE NOT ACCEPTED cither set of challenges. You now state that you will publish, later on, a reply to these challenges. But you do not intimate acceptance of my challenges to A PUBLIC TRIAL of your alleged "summary" IN THE TOWN HALL OR ELSEWHERE, before A TRIBUNAL TO BE JOINTLY CHOSEN BY US. If vour promised ' replv be even A BELATED ACCEPTANCE OF MY CHALLENGES, it will give us pleasure to meet vou. If your coming reply be NOT. AN ACCEPTANCE OF MY CHALLENGES, vour alleged "SUMMARY" will, nevertheless, bo brought up again by me. in detail, at a later stage. THE RED CROSS can still hope for another chance of securing the SIX HUNDRED POUNDS temporarily forfeited by your failure to accept my challenges within the ample time Bpeci* fled. JOHN BRENNAN, JLate Chaplain N.Z. Expeditionary' Forces, Administrator, St. Patrick's Cathedral, i Auckland. I J