CHAIN LETTER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 October 1938, Page 8

CHAIN LETTER

MR ROBERTSON’S CHALENGE. NO CHARGE MADE AGAINST MR IRVING. It was reported in the “Times-Age” yesterday that Mr J. Robertson, Laboui' candidate for the Masterton seat, had challenged Mr J. H. Irving, National Party candidate, and the local executive of the National Party with reference to the alleged circulation of a chain letter in which an endeavour was made to raise the sectarian issue. Publicity was given also yesterday to a statement by Mr Irving that he denied all knowledge of and responsibility for the issue of any copies of the letter in question, the contents of /which he strongly disapproved. In a statement last evening, Mr Robertson said he wished to make it clear that he had not accused Mr Irving of knowing anything about the chain letter, but he had challenged him to repudiate if. “What I said,” Mr Robertson observed,“ was that it had come definitely to my knowledge that copies of the chain letter had been typed in the office of member of the local executive of the National Party. I also made some references to the degredation of political standards involved in the adoption of methods of which this chain letter was an example and I challenged Mr Irving to repudiate the letter. I did not accuse him of having any knowledge of it, but called upon him in the interests of political decency to repudiate it. I said I knew there were members of the local executive of the National Party who would not stand for that sort of thing.”

EMPHATIC DENIAL ON BEHALF OF NATIONAL PARTY. NO ASSOCIATION WHATSOEVER WITH CHAIN LETTER. The following statement was made today by Mr J. Jameson, chairman of the Masterton Executive of the National Party:—“On behalf of the executive of the Masterton Electorate Committee of-the New Zealand National Party, I wish to emphatically deny that our party has any association whatsoever with a sectarian chain letter being circulated in some quarters of this electorate.” FURTHER STATEMENT. BY MR J. ROBERTSON. The following further statement was rrjade today by Mr J. Robertson: “I find that although the statement I made in the Opera House on Monday evening, October 3, was made in good faith and was literally true and correct, investigation shows that the chain letter referred to by me as being copied in a certain office was not being copied there for the purpose of political propaganda. but only to oblige a friend of the proprietor, who was not using it for political propaganda purposes either.” ?-■