ALLEGED CALUMNY.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 July 1922, Page 7

ALLEGED CALUMNY.

STATEMENT IN NEWSPAPER. IRISH PEER’S ANNOYANCE. By Telegraph—Press Assn.—-Copyright. London, June 28. The story of how a peer visited the home of Eady Bathurst, proprietress of the Morning Post, and demanded an apology for newspaper criticism was told in the House of Lords when Lord Bathurst accused Lord Midleton of calling at the lady’s home trembling with hysterical excitement and 'demanding an instant apology. He . declared the peer told Lady Bathurst that ii it had happened in former days he would have shot Lord Bathurst. Lord Midleton, who was. in the House of Lords, interjected: “What I said was that if the circumstances had been those of a century ago I would have called out the noble lord and attempted to shoot him.” The incident arose when Lord Midleton called the attention of the House to a paragraph by the Dublin correspondent of the Morning Post relating to the murder of Field-Marshal Wilson. This paragraph read: “The vast bulk of the Southern Irishmen, from the Midleton anti-partitionists to the Rory O’Connor Republicans, are going about their business as if the Empire s greatest soldier had been a blind beggar run over by a cab. The foul deed gives monumental satisfaction indeed, for the whole race is steeped in the infamous doctrine that killing is no murder when the victim is an Orangeman or a Loyalist.” Lord Midleton described the statement as a calmunious and malicious libel, and said he would not have mentioned the matter if he had not failed to secure a- withdrawal or apology from Lady Bathurst.

The Lord Chancellor said the case was astonishing and constituted a most gross outrage. He recommended Lord Midleton to take advice whether he had no remedy. The Lord Chancellor added that Lord Bathurst’s attitude should be one of sackcloth and ashes for such a vil6’ insult. Lord Bathurst explained that inquiries were being made in Dublin regarding the subject.