Auckland newspaper The New Zealand Herald reported that on 23 November 1966, Eyre had responded to an election meeting question in Devonport that his personal solution to end the war in Vietnam was to drop "a basin full of bombs" on the enemy. Leader of the Opposition, Norman Kirk, took advantage of the Herald article as the war was a large issue at the . Eyre claimed the reporting was not contextually related to his comments about military targets and he successfully sued for defamation over the reporting of the remark.
Auckland newspaper The New Zealand Herald reported that on 23 November 1966, Eyre had responded to an election meeting question in Devonport that his personal solution to end the war in Vietnam was to drop "a basin full of bombs" on the enemy. Leader of the Opposition, Norman Kirk, took advantage of the Herald article as the war was a large issue at the time. Eyre claimed the reporting was not contextually related to his comments about military targets and he successfully sued for defamation over the reporting of the remark.