TRIAL OF W, T. YOUNG.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1989, 20 February 1914, Page 10

TRIAL OF W, T. YOUNG.

CHARGE OF SEDITION,

THE JUEy PAIL TO AGREE

•The'hearing of a charge of sedition against .William Tliomas Youiig'occupied tho Supremo Court .yesterday..The Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) presided. Mr. P. S. Mnca'ssey con-ducted tho prosecution, and Mr. '£. M. Wilford,. wjttt Mr. P-. J. O'Regan, appeared for the defence. • Young : was charged that on October 26, 1913,.at t-h-D Basin R-esci-vo.-m tlw presence of alarga crowd of Wellington waterside workers'then on strike and others, he -.ijttered certain, scdit'ious words, to wit ':-*_ . . - "I want to say that special con-" stable 3 ai-o being called for. A number of them wero marched to the ■ Newtown ;.Depbt last night, I want ...to say this,-that if the polico'force- '. of this coiiii'try aro going to -be '.titili-sod—l knew' the .individual'police don't »aht to bo usedfor tho ; purpose—but if. the authoritioa of ■ : -this"country are goinc to-use them "to suppress/'tho working class, .1 will trndertake—we will undertake — to mass iri this,'city of WelluntfOM. 10,000 or 15,000 arnicd iftmifeaSy to protect themselves as .armed riien-. . If a, police- constablq nsss his- baton ; te you, Eivo'him one back,, and ir" one won t do, jnake it a doubk* ■ header. If wo hare got to.fight the police iorco a,nd. tho military, it' has ' got to be dono in style and effectu- . .ally.' It is a very easy matter indeod. Thero are ten or'fifteen, thousand men in sunport, of yen,"and to protect- you -against the baton of the' ;, police authorities. If the Employers are not prepared to act in a 'conciliatory, spirit, and if they put on 'scabs' to work cargo, there will not.- < ■' bs a ship leaving this port, and if•: mods ho- there will not b* a tvlwrf for 'sca-hs' to work on. ' Don't you ' bo afraid of tb«n. . tf 1 havo got to incite the _multitude,. I will' jnofla them, arid in a r>r<soer inannflr".(6t' i "words to tike effect). , ! Prisoner pleaded not guilty.. !. SBleotlng Wis Jury. ■ The selection ot' ih&. jary was. not achieved without many challenges and "stand asides," Mr. Wilford asked leave to object to orie jur or..called, "for cause." The ground of .the objection was that the juror was an emplovcr who had suffered by having his busiiiess disp'rganrsad' by tho strike. - .. , His, HftiKjur said that this was Jiot cause. ■• 'Mr. Wilford then.urged tliat.as the, defence could-, exercise, only six challenges, and the Crown had-unlimited pmrer.to order jurors to' stand ■ aside, the.defence-had.rxo ehauce. In the last , case tiro CraWn. had ordcrfed 32,t0 'stand .down, aiid had. practically therefore selected the : pariei. ■ .--'-'■. His Honour (laughing):; Judfeirig by the rnsult.'bf the trials, the .-.'■ Grown does riot alsvays get .what it likes. ' After a little" .further discussion, Mr. Wilford challeh.gcd.tJio ja,» r in the-'crd-itiary VBa'y.'/.-.' ~-.- .'-.. \ \ ■ ■ . » ". •

~'.'. ~ :v.te'gal Points Bcsory'ett. •...: ' '.. Mr. 1 .-silftff d,-- spoaking:., before, -,tho .trial, proper' d'omrnenet'cj,' asked' lifs, Hon* bur. to'note two was' that, ,in tho.words charg'qd ik the, indictment,. there wis l no-offe-iice'under Section 11.0 of thp.,jCj:i{j'ip&,A:ctJ,-, ; .jT,hQ.. second point wa.s. ;th's' 'acq-ustid:''.ii.id.-'al-ready been convicted in tho Magistrate's. forart on'tho words, in tltje i'ndfotrnen't', . ■His Honiur (to Mr. Macasseyj: Do. you admit, to? „ „ ,„,;„,;,, W' Mr. propose to ask that the. indictment he aineivded.-, Iri the Lower Court the words. Relied upon were: "If a police -uses Ins ■ baton giro ,him olio back, and if quo won't do make it a double hca'der." I wish now to amend the iu'dictment by omitting- those words. Mr WlKord objected, io. Ulis.' His Honour, however, stllowed tho amendment, remarking ..it could do iid harm_ to an Recused person t&. witlidr.aw certain of tho words charged against fciru, -.; ... , / Mr. Wilford:-! must bow,.but I can't agree. . . ■ ...•' - ..■.-'■ ..His Honour: Very well, I wijl reserve that point for yon,as well if yoii like. Mr. Wilford asked that tho point,to reserved j and asked also that, another point should-bo reserved,, vp, as- to whether the Crown' could amend the indictment after an .accused,peison had been charged and had pleaded. This point his Honour reserved also. Tho Crown Case. i Mr,'Macassey, outlining.;tlie.,case for the prosecution,, denned wu.at. was meant : by a seditious .utterance, • .If.t'he words ;-w'ere used tf>.provoke' a breach; i of ' ; tlio peace or a -violation of",tie';.law, ha 1 would submit that tho jury 'riruii-t!:find ' that they.wass seditious. Prior to.October 26 there had.been a. strike,.4nd scenes, of. violence on the wharves'and elsewhere. This utterance at a 'meeting of...men whose.miiids „«r'ero inflamed against the special 'constables who v.'cro to maintain la* and OrdeV.'He Sutenittßd .that the words h-a'd.oiily one meaning—an appeal to t.lib.str|kers„to resist, law and'order, and to; create public disorder.,. . ~ diaries R«3mo',id, reporter on the staff of the,' "New ' Zealand. . Times," stated that there wet*, several thousand men—mostly wVS-rking men—at tli-'e. meeting at which Touncc, uttered the words set.forth, in the indictment Ho took a shorthand, note'of the the report- which appeared in, his'paper was snbstantiallv.what Young had. said. To Sir, Wilford: Ho was not-sul;e that he had. take*) a- note of the whole, of. the speech; but he believed that all the words set forth iiv the indictment .were used by Young'.. He ctftild.'not..swear that.his. copy was not "bhie-peucilled" bv the sub-editor .before it, appeared. There was also ascertain alnoviut of noise at the ineeting, arid it might lipve I.v?cu possible for him it inako a lrn'ststko sbonl; a word here and He believed, however, that the words., as he had "reported them, were correct,, but he would not like %<i swear to the absolute,accuracy of any .line., , .

. Harous Plimmer, aliief reporter on the literary statt of Yhe Doiiisibs'. laid that ho- also had reported the'-mceting. \ The report-in .TheDominios, ami the.' wprda in the. indletpient were substantially those made by the prisoner &oump:. ■'' " To His Honour: Tlio words in .ttse indictment did not misrepresent Young in any. way. jifia 'Stephen Fwuiiiis;, of the editorial staff of'th* ' "Evenim;, Post," ba4 'preserved his shorthand.nates taken at the meeting, and ho road from. them when • he siavo evidence. ■_ Tlio record supported the allegations'in merit:" ■ .'• .. ;•'■■'" ■ : V" ■ John Breen, shipping clerk,' £aVo evidence of riotous bebiyiour.7 on the. wharves before ttinntter.'mco..'of ttio seditious words. He recwintqcT how .'a; gaiig of free workers had driven fro'iitheNkviia-by a. mob af, men,who had rushed the ship. A inrvn had thrown a bottle at.him, nit.ttng his head.. Mr.' Wi.lfor'd objected to thn ! adnnsnwiii. of luiy.of this evidence, as'boinn irrelevant,' wvd His Honour .noted the objection.. • Arthur . Ha-rdV • Ivitciiit\x; ( shipping clerk, gave widiw-e of. the '.rHsltiiiq; of ■tho. ssteamerDefender on October2f. Tfi Ithc-'.meleei. h°'was, rather badly faivt. This closed tlio case for the..Crown. i .'The Defence. ••".■• Mr:. Wilford.called W. G.;Hiddell, j Stipendiary.Magistrate, to prov<? cer.tain formal matters which M.r.-.'Wilford stated 1' that, he needed forth© legal poittfs which he had raiioc!.< ~ ■. . >•■' : : , .■'■ i >Ir.>Wil{ord then., addressed'the jury. 1 fie assarted thai the chaise against the

prisoner was a queer charge, about which the general public mid the lawyers knew very little. The statute law on the. subject did not niake it at all clear I what the offence- of sedition was. Scdi- -. tious words were defined as words expressing seditions intention, and he dis- ; ciisssd the various legal definitions of , seditious Intention, with a view to showing that it was by' no means easy to be sure what sedition meant. Roughly . speaking, ho supposed' that .it meant such conduct as' was likely to bring about a state of anarchy and disruption which would cause dire trouble everywhere. But, in. spite' of all the hairsplitting on hehalfof the Crown, it seemed tbatToung was not being, prosecuted but persecuted. _ Suppo&ing that Young had made a- picked sneeeli', the worst parts of the speech bad been cut out of it, and ho had been convicted -on

those word?. ' Now he .was being tried oh the same speech—with the.lines cutout—foi' which.he was now serviiig a sentence of three months.. Counsel «W commented on the fact, that the two lines, which had sine? been cut out, had been in. the indictment before the Grand l Jury, No oils would ever know whether the Grand Jury found a true bill, because of the presence of those words, or not, hut their* presence would probably prejudice the . Grand Jury . against Young. So' argued .that, in any ca.i">, the prisoner had been punished enough. ' His Honour's Direction. . . His Honour in summing up stated that the question whether Young could be tried again on ; this indictment, because it contained words in respect of which he was sentenced l .on another charge, was not a question for the iurV to determine. He had not yet decided on it, ■ but had reserved, it for tie Court of -Appeal. If the jury found that Yoniig had used Words which teuded.to civil war, .which tended' to violence, then he.was guilty of sedition. His Honour went on to recount - the words arid phrases in Young's speech as set forth in the indictment ujson which, the witnesses had'bean in agreement. What was the meaning of-the words, "There will he no wharf for 'scabs' to, Work on" ? Did .it not mean that there would be sabotage ?-\\liat was the-inclining of "I will undertake to mass in this citv of Welliuffton 10,000 *»i- 15,000 nrrrted in.cn?". Did they mean peace, or did they counsel .violence? , ~'"'. ; The' jury : disagreed. ■ His Honour said that thb question of a new, tr,i,al.would stand over until after the sittings of the .Court of -Apfeeal, at which 'certain legal points raised on behalf of •the'prisoner will be decided. The effect of this will'be -that no iiew trial can under' any circumstances be held until, the .neat. crimiiwl sessions; and that.| in, the. meantime .Yotijig. will swye the feniainder. of.'the Sentence of three months irairasedon'him by Mr.' W. G. Kiddell, S.M, , . .