"WAR TREASON"

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2350, 5 January 1915, Page 6

"WAR TREASON"

: THE CASE ,OF F. E. N. GAUDIN EVIDENCE AT THE TRIAL IBr Tdeeiftuh.—Ptms Iraocifttloß.) . Auckland, January.4, On the arrival at Apia of the s.s. Navua at noon on December 23, an officer oame on board and handed- F. EL N. Gaudin a. copy of the charges pre- ■ ferred against him by the military au- . thoiities,. with ■, an, : intimation that : tho Court would sit at 1.30 that day. It I- ■■ ■ was one o'clock before the launch reach- ••>. ®d and consequently Gaudin had ; . ho time nor opportunity to prepare his ; ; defence nor to consult counsel. Although the Court was open to the pub-' [ . •. lie none of : the. civilian residents, wen ! . aware of the fact or that the trial was -proceeding. : The case was quickly: dw- : . patched in military fashion. The . following is a report of the pro- : beedings:— ■ . • -■ . Judges: Major Head (President of v Court), Captain Gibb, and Lieutenant i ■ Gascoyno. I . The charges preferred were as follow: 1: Committing an act of i "war in that he; at Apia, on ! or about October 30, 1914, carried on i hoard;'s.s. Navua— V (1) A large amount of correspondency ■. t front subjects of the enemy to several 1 ' '.prisoners of ...war and thereby assisting , 'the said subjects to evade censorship of ; ksfctors. : . .

(2) A photograph of the wireless sta- : tion . addressed to Messrs. Wilson and .. : Horton, photographic editors of the ; Weekly News,", presumably intended, ifor publication and thoreby f • evading' censorship. ' j (3) A number, of papers of manu- . script intended for publication in the I "Auckland Weekly News" or other paper, thereby evading 'censorship. _A second charge was; of disobedience of the Government regulations in that ini i afc A P ia » on or about October 30, 1J14,-removed from the occupied terri°f Samoa a, considerable quaniity i. . C M m , contrary to Proclamation No. 3 on. dated September 12, 1914, , The .accused was not represented by t V counsel,_ but was allowed to' have a s friend sitting with him with whom he i BURht confer if he so desired. called upon to plead 'accused j asked to be - allowed to make an. exi planatory statement., of the various matters, in the charges, after- which the .Lourt could call- its (witnesses to prove ! : or disprove his statement. This .course I was not allowed/ the Court directing thi £ accused must first plead guilty _or - not. guilty, " and that , ne . might make a statement after various witnesses had been heard. Accused i; then pleaded not guilty to treason, but j admitted carrying certain letters under special circumstances which ho would i 6x P; a i?'To the charge of v removing i gold from Samoa,' he pleaded guilty un- ; fler mitigating circumstances. i Hie Crown Prosecutor, Captain' Neill, i explained that as no proclamation had i - ■/been.... issued regarding tho censorship, j regulations,' the only heading under , .which the charge of carrying non-cen- | sored .letters could be laid Was that of ~ committing an "act of war treason" i .under the "law and usages of war" jv paragraph'44s. ' | Accused (emphatically): "I will never : ■ tpload to treason." ! , - The first witness called was Colonel % Logan, who stated that he knew accused.. Gaudin had' called on him and r informed him that he' iheld a captain's r commission in the New Zealand Yolun- | -teer Reserve; After the Navua'sailed t witness sent a wireless message to the ! Zealand military authorities to j detain: Gaudin and search him for uili censored letters-for German prisoners of j war: - Ho had received by the 1 return ! mail a number of letters to various peri sons (including two to prisoners of war), v. a paoket of photographs, and! accused s , captain's commission. Questioned by accused, Colonel Logan j 'said ; that' the report of the arresting : detective in Auckland; had not been ( forwarded from New Zealand.

, The President of the Court adjourned ; the ,trial for fifteen minutes to see if y the ■; incoming mail had any , documents, regarding the case, but no- , thing was 'forthcoming.. . . . A. Tattersall, photographer, ,of Apia, stated .that, a few minutes before the ; Navua sailed on October 30, and long ■after the mail had closed, ho saw Gaudin on his way to the boat, and asked him to take a packet of photographic Viewß ■ to Wilson, and Horton. Gaudin did not

know-orask.what .the- photos, were,nor !. could he (witness) remember exactly, hut i. they' were, "a lot of/views of .Samoa! r On being /shown certain photos ; by ! the Grown'ProsecutoFj witness idenfci- ; fied them-as his work. One view show? :. Ed the': wireless- station ■ at ; Apia. : Ao- ; cased, got no consideration of any kind. \ for - taking the packet; hut did so j. ; simply to oblige witness. • '\ The next witness was George Westj :hroofcj' Apia, correspondent to the -"New ; Zealand Herald." Witness stated that ( some time' ago he had posted a letter i .to Wilson and Horton, Auokland, and ? as the letter had not appeared he made inquiries of the censor in Apia as to whether any letters of his to Wilson j and Horton had been stopped by him.' ; The censor had replied in the negative, S and as witness thought'the letter must i.have miscarried he addressed a press ! copy of the manuscript to Wilson and lTorton, and asked Gaudin' to; take | charge of it. - 'This was on October 30i. j the day the Navua, sailed. .The accused J just took the letter to oblige- him, as ithey had been friends for many years. K. Hansen, manager of a German i firm, identified <t letter that he had written.on October 30 to Dr. Schultz, Jate Governor of Samoa, and now pris; toner in.New Zealand. Witness stated ithat the letter was passed out of his ■ private, offico to ; the public or outer office to he posted in the ordinary way. iHe did not know why his clerk had, not Sposted it. The clerk was not now in : Samoa. 'Witness presumed the letter .must have been put in with the business letters which it was tho custom to hand to Kronfeld's representative when a steamer, was leaving for Auckland. The letter addressed to Olne [(produced) would also he forwarded in ;tliis way. Olne was manager 'of his ; company's branch; at Hapai, Tonga. Kronfeld had been his company's agent in Auckland-for over twenty 'years, and when Kronfeld or any of his firm visited Samoa they were the guests of the company, as Gaudin j.was in October last. i The next witness was G. Klinkmuller, a late German Government official, who ' stated that he iiad met Gaudin at dinner, and had requested him to take charge of a suit case containing laun!dry for Sir. Mars, secretary to Dr. Schultz. Mr. Mars was not a prisoner iof war, but had been allowed to accompany Dr._ Schultz to Motuihi. Accused had 6aid "with pleasure" that he was acquainted with the officer in Auckland, and would have the bag forwarded on the day the Navua sailed. Witness handed Mr: Gaudin a letter for Mr. Mars. Accused then asked witness what Was in' the letter, and he replied: "Nothing that will get you into trouble with tho authorities," or "with the censors." i Cross-examined-by accused, witness stated that accused got no consideration of any kind for undertaking the Forwarding of the suit-case and letter. ! At this point the Crown Prosecutor said he wished it clearly understood that: thero was no allegation that accused bad received money for convoying correspondence. ■ . ' • E. Roye, lato official under the German Government, admitted that he. had handed the accused £20, partly in gold, barfly in note, and partly in silver, but probably rather more than half was in lold. The money was to repay Mr. KronfeW in 'Auckland for cash h&-|

(Kro'nfeld) had disbursed on account of witness's ward in. Auckland. Witness had not read the proclamation prohibiting the export of gold from the island, nor did he take the newspaper. The nest witness was W. Holzeit, a German storekeeper in Apia, who stated that he did busine'ss with Kronfeld, Ltd. .In October last he gave Mr. Gaudin an order for goods, and mado a payment off his old account, such payment including £108 in gold. At that time he owed Kronfeld, Ltd., about £400. This closed tho case for the prosecution. Statement by Gaudin. Aconsed then made a statement which admitted the accuracy of the evidence. He could solemnly assure the Court that he was innocent of any intentional wrongdoing or act of war treason. It had been his honest intention to forward tiie letters for the - Germans through the' proper authorities, and ho never for one moment thought of doing otherwise. He felt sure no one would hand him anything that would not pass tho censors. The various letters were carried quite openly in a small unlocked handbag. There was ' no attempt at any concealment, and the letters were all promptly and freely handed to Detective Hollis when requested on October 30. He (accused) had been very busy all day right up till 5 - o'clock, and was so pre-cccupied that ho was not on his guard. If he had been guilty of an indiscretion and had unwittingly broken the military laws he deeply regretted it. The Crown Prosecutor, Captain Neil, •then briefly addressed the Court. He said that before the case was tried he had taken a serious view of the charges, but after hearing the evidence and accused's statement he would present a very different speech to the; original one he had prepared, as be had now modified it much in the accused's favour. However, it had been proved that "war treason" uljdor the "laws and usages of war" had been committed m a minor degree. Indeed, a very minor degree.' None of the letters had contained anything treasonable or of importance. The Court was then'cleared while the Judges considered their verdict. In a few minutes the Court resumed,' and the President, Major Head, announced that ■ the. accused had' been found guilty on charges I and 2. After the verdict evidence was taken . as_ to character. Major William Kay third Auckland Regiment, and M. M'Ca.llum, an Auckland merchant, gave Gaudin an excellent character.' - The latter gave evidence as to. the, suffering accused had already endured through his' seven weeks' detention on these charges, and to the injury his good name had suffered through some unfounded and utterly untrue'accounts of his case having been freely, circulated both in Auckland, ;and all over the South Sea Islands. Mr. M'Callum made an earnest'appeal for the leniency of the Court on account of the severe suffering already endured not only, .by accused, but by his family. -Imprisonment of any find would be "a terrible thing not only for a man in accused's position, but for his wife and little children. The Court was then • adjourned, accused being informed that sentence would be passed later, and communicated to him. After confirmation by the Military Governor, the prisoner was then returned, to barracks, and at 10 o'clock next morning was ordered on board the Navua. Just before embarking in the launch: Captain Tottenham read to him the sentence of the Court, viz., five years'-hard labour. Gaudin asked: "To whom can I appeal?", : Captain Tottenham replied: "To no Court in the world." ;

It. is understood that a petition, to, the Governor for a remission of the sentence was promptly started, .Gaudin being well and favourably known among all the residents of Apia. Gaudin was brought up from the Islands by the Navua "this morning! The sentence is regarded in Auckland as severe, and there, is some talk of an indignation meeting being held. , ' THE 'AUTHORITIES SILENT. ■ ■ (By Telegraph—Press Association.) Auckland, January 4. The military authorities have tlhus far declined to give' any information whatever about the trial of F. E. N. Gaudin at Samoa and the charges brought against him. Owing to the mail steamer leaving Apia immediately after tie conclusion of the trial the newspaper correspondents' in Samoa were- unable to send any report of the proceeding, and the only report available is that published in the "Western Pacific Herald;" Suva, where the mail steamer lay for a couple of days on her return.'voyage awaiting cargo. Major Head, who was president of the Court, leftf for Wellington hy the midday express to-day.