FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22368, 15 September 1934, Page 10

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

TO THE EDITOR

Sib,- —I see that my young friend, “E. W. F," threatens to take the huff. I shall be sorry if he does so. He should be too old for that. It was precisely that impractical side of his character that was the cause of strained relations between him and myself some time ago. I myself had the benefit of advice from an editor who was a personal friend similar to that given to "E. W. F.” in your footnote to his letter. He “ winded ” me when he asked me “ Why do you not start a newspaper of your own ? ” Pushing young men should not be too thin-skinned. I knew one who was a preaching lawyer, a somewhat incongruous combination like a preaching Mayor, He had offended his brother lawyer, who complained to me about his conduct. I pleaded in his defence that he was young. “Yes,” says his friend, “ So d young.”—l am, etc., John Law. to THE EDITOR. Sir, —I marvel at your patience with "E. W. F ” and “ Profanum Ynlgus.” It is ridiculous the way they write about freedom when the fact that their letters are published demonstrates that they already have what they are whining for. The following proverbs well describe them: “He that hath a froward heart findeth no good .... (Prov, xvii, 20) and “As he (a man) thinketh in his heart, so is lie. . . .’’(Prov. xxiii, 7). But I was forgetting that the “ profane ” man has no heart, except the thing that beats inside his jacket!—l am, etc., A Lover of True Freedom. TO THE EDITOR Sir, —I do not wish to enter into any correspondence with “E. W. F.” or anyone else on this subject of freedom of speech, but I would like to ask “B. W. F.” if he can tell me of any country outside of the British Empire where a man can stand at a street confer and denounce the Government of that country without being punished for it. I myself do not know of any, although I have travelled a good deal over this world.—-I am, etc., H. M. S. September 14.