SUIT AGAINST BISHOP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21247, 29 July 1932, Page 12

SUIT AGAINST BISHOP

THE JUDGE'S COMMENTS STATEMENT BY DR. LISTON A letter from iho Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, Dr. J. M. Liston, to the parish priest and pcoplo of Wliatigarei, with referenoo to tho recent Supromo Court action brought against himself by Thomas Campbell, retired farmer, of Wellington, is printed in tho latest issue of tho Roman Catholic journal tho Month. The plaintiff in the action sought to recover £5500, alleged to have been lent for tho purposes 6f a scheme to erect a new church at Whangarei. Judgment was given by Mr. Justice MacGregor for tho defendant, without costs In the course of his letter Bishop Liston says: —"I am sure that, even without tho specific disclaimer to be mentioned, your good senso will tell you not to bo disturbed by tho concluding comments of the presiding Judge; they were such as to occasion most respectful astonishment. You do not need my assuranco that your bishop acted throughout with the gravest senso of responsibility. I will only add in fairness to Rev. Father Herring, tho soul of honour, and to my legal advisers, of whoso ability and prudent judgment I cannot speak too highly, that no charges of misappropriation wore made, that my counsel in Court, in reply to an interjection by the learned Judge himself, emphatically and specifically disclaimed tho making of any such charges, that questions wero asked, and most properly asked, as to the use made of certain parochial moneys, and that the. witness was asked these questions with tho perfect courtesy due to his dignity."