ALLEGED BLASPHEMOUS LIBEL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2365, 8 December 1921, Page 2

ALLEGED BLASPHEMOUS LIBEL.

Wellington, Dec, 7,

John Glover was to-day committed for trial on a charge of having published in the Maoriland Worker on 12th October, 1921, an allegedly blasphemous libel. The alleged offence consisted in the publication of the following words: “Oh Jesus, send me a wound to-day, and I’ll believe in Your bread and wine, and get my bloody old sins washed white.’’ Mr Maenssey, for the Crown, said that the words in ques(ion were published in a poem entitled “Stand to Good Friday Morn.”

Mr O’Regan, for Glover, said the poem from which the words were

taken was by Seigfried Sassoon, one of the family of Bombay bankers, who lie believed was a Jew. Sassoon won some distinction during the war, and the poem published in the Worker was one from a volume of poetry describing the writer’s feelings on the held of battle. The book was on sale in the Dominion, and counsel read complimentary references to it in the London Times and local reviews. The last lines of the poem alleged to be offending were the usual illustration of poetic license, and were the kind of sentiments one might expect a Jew to express. i

Glover, who pleaded not guilty, was allowed bail in one surety of £IOO, or two of £SO each.