MR. McRAE EXPLAINS

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 14 May 1913, Page 5

MR. McRAE EXPLAINS

(T$ t&e Editor.) Sir,—Jn your issue of the 13th you referred to my letter as - beinp couched ill terms altogether toe strong, also acquainting me of tinfact that thera was a lib:! law ir this country. Now, Sir, Ido not wist 1 to involve you in a lil>el action, no* yet do I want your readers to ,think ithat I have written' any malicious libel .matter. What I wrote was the truth.. When you set out to show that the actions of the labour members of West Australia, in taking up land in a fair and legal manner, was a disgrace to the political history of the country, I thought that I was justified in replying, and bttingryour readers know the other side of the question. 'But if the truth is a libel, that ends it. It reminds me of Robbie Burns. He once wrote a verse (couched tin strong terms) On Stuarts, and on being told that it would affect his prospects, li 9 wrote the following lines: — . » "Plash mortal, and slanderous poet, thy name Shall 110 longer appear in the records of fame; Dost not know that old Mansfield, who writes like the Bible, Says the more 'tis a truth, sir, the more 'tis a libel. ROD McRAE. Master ton, May 13, 1913. [Mr Moßae has hit the nail on the head. There may have been a good deal of truth in what he wrote. In our opinion, also, there was something which might have involved us in libel. Hence our refusal to publish. The facts regarding the Westralian Labour land-grab speak for themselves.—Ed,Age.] .