SEMPLE FINED £20.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1938, 22 December 1913, Page 6

SEMPLE FINED £20.

i CHARGES OF INCITEMENT, THE AUCKLAND CASE. (Bjr, MegrapU.-Prcss Association.) 11 ■'}#'*', ■■ A'.ietiJafrd, December 20. .Mr. F, V. F nisei', .S.M., gave jndg--0 nient litis, morning iii the sumtnary 'i 'charges heard against Jtoburt Soinplc, ■ organiser. of the United Federation of ! i Labour on Wednesday last: that ou 1 October 30 lie incited divers persons to r resist or assault, police constables in ; the execution ■of their- duty; and, '• further,, that !ie promoted, or eiicouraged, divers persons to assault or re- - sist special constables in tho execution of their duty. Tho third charge, one 2 of an indict,ib'o nature, had been held - over, pending the Magistrate's decision a on the summary charges—that on the f samo occasion lie spoke seditious words, f . ;Mr. .Fraser dismissed the charge of • incitement to resist police constables, ' buti'eonvicted tlie defendant of inciting 1' tr/'resist/ :the special constables, and 1 linwl'lrim/tiO,'' and £4 18s. costs. i .Mr. .1. A. Tele thereupon withdrew • thn third charge of uttering seditious 3 words,'. and tho defendant paid his fin® 1. oil the spot. - First Information Dismissed. 1' ■In .tho course of his judgment, Mr, 3 Fraser said: "It was argued that as no 1 special constables had been enrolled for - service in Auckland, and as the sug--2 gestion made at that, time was that the - farmers should come to tho city for tho - solo purpose of loading their own produce, the defendant's remarks would i riot apply to the special constables, but , must bo taken to refer to tho suggested ; free labour by tho farmers. This view ! is untenable, as the reference to tho • issue of batons obviously deals with tho , special constables, and governs the i whole of the address; and, moreover, i tho appointment of special constables at ' Auckland must have been considered ■ Hy them to have beea extremely pro- ■ bablc. Tho incitement to retaliation is ■ dearly directed at tho special force, . but I cannot in fairness to the defeiid- , ant find that his words apply to reprisals oh tho regular police, who have, all through, been treated with respect by the strikers, 'l'ho first information j which relates to inciting or encouraging persons to resist or assault tho police constables must thereforo bo dis.

missed. ' The Special Constables. ■ "Tim second information rchtes- to a similar offence in regard to the special constables. Jll order to correct any misapprehension as to the legal position oi-the special constables, which may bo current as the result of the speeches of the defendant and others, it may be well to observe tlia£ all ccijstfthles, regular and special, aro appointed for tile preservation of the public peace and the protection of persons and properties of citizens; and that they are justified by law in using force whc-ro foroo is ncccssary. Mr. Skolioji coutcnu* ed that in order to enable tlm Court to convict, it must bo proved that incitement to resist, or assault, was in respect of some specific act being performed at tho time by n constable in the execution of his office, and that a general incitement- to resist, or assault, constables ;'tt sonic future time, was not covered by tho wording of _the section. A similar poiut was raised in the recent Wellington ease of the Police v, Young, 111 which the defendant was charged under Section 68 of the Police Offences Act, of 1008, with inciting strikers to resist tho police in the execution of their dutv. But the defence was not sustained'.' An appeal is now_ ponding against tho Magistrate's decision m that ease, but it has been requested by both parties to giro an independent decision in the present ease. Incitement Against Specified Class. "It is true," said Mr.-Ifrascr, "that a person cannot be convicted of resistor assaulting a constahlo unless that constable is acting in the execution of his office at the time of the. commission of the offence. The Knglisli ease, Regina v. Most, is the authority for the proposition that a general incitement nicnt to commit ■ a crime against ;i specified class is til itself a crime punishable, by law, apart from any acts which may bo induced. It follows therefore that to promote or encourage a mixed crowd of people to resist or assault a particular class of constables to which I have just referred, is an <rffenco against the section. Circumstances Alter Daws. f 'Tbe question of penalty," continued Mr. Kraser, "has caused mo much thought. For a somewhat similar offence at Wellington, Yovm« was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, and it becomes necessary- to compare tho circumstances under which the two offences were committed. The present defendant spoke to a chance crowd, and his utterance was obviously inspired by; a telegram which he had only that evening received from Wellington. Tho reporters stated in their evidence that I ho was more than ordinarily excited by the news of what he considered to have been an unjustifiable Attack by -'special' police upon tho strikers at Wellington. ITo did not advocate 'aggression;' but merely 'resistance to force.' and at the same time' urged upon liis hearers the necessity of calm, cool, reasoning ■ and judgment, for bringing about a. satisfactory settlement-. It must be remembered, too, that at no time was tho situation at Auckland, so far as the maintenance of law and order was coneerncd, as serious as at Wellington. I have also to consider tho fact that the defendant has already been ordered to bo bound over to keep tho pence in his 'own. reeonrniisnucc of £30, with sureties totalling £1000.

The Tiinaru Branch of the Farmers' Union on Saturday (says a Press Asso* ciatinn telegram) recommended tho Provincial Kxccutivo to recognise in some way the maimer in which tho Arbitration watorsiders kept tho port open during the striise.

Messrs. E. Johnston and Co. will Fell by nneticn, cit their rooms this morning, somo 5000 10t.3 of valuable goods, suitabio for Christmas presents.

Messrs. London, Goss and Co. have a handy 1700-acro sliocp farm for sale, l'ho terms aro said to bo very easy.