SLIPPER SENT TO GAOL

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 912, 4 March 1930, Page 1

SLIPPER SENT TO GAOL

Six Months for Defamation MAU SOLICITOR SENTENCED Insulting Words in Letters A PRIVATE radio message received in Auckland this morning states that Mr. T. B. Slipper, a solicitor, of Apia, Samoa, has been sentenced to six months’ imprisonment on a, charge of making a defamatory libel against the Administrator of Western Samoa, Mr. S. S. Allen. Mr. Slipper, who is solicitor for the Mau, formerly practised in Wanganui.

It, was reported that the charge was made in connection with statements alleged to have been published in reference to the recent raid carried out at the village of Valmoso. A Press Association message from Wellington says the following official report on the Slipper case was issued yesterday: “The Prime Minister has been advised by the Administrator of Western Samoa, Mr. S. S. Allen, that as a result of a communication said to have been addressed by T. B. Slipper, solicitor, of Apia, to the Administrator, the Commodore, the Chief Judge of West-

ern Samoa and the Prime Minister, proceedings for defamatory libel under section 153 of the Samoa Act, 1921, and for insulting words under section 154, were taken against him. “The communication said to have been addressed to the Prime Minister, has not yet been received, and no information is as yet available here as to the terms of the document which is the subject of the proceedings. “The hearing, which was commenced before the Chief Judge on February 26 (Apia time), was concluded on February 27, and Slipper was remanded in custody until March 3 pending a written judgment.”