DISLOYAL WORDS IN PUBLIC

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2719, 14 March 1916, Page 6

DISLOYAL WORDS IN PUBLIC

NORWEGIAN CONVICTED

£25 PINE IMPOSED

Disloyalty in speech resulted in the appearance of a Norwegian resident before.Mr.. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., in tho Magistrate's Court yesterday morning. The accused, one Andrew Theodore Anderson; a married man, 49 years of ago, was somotime prior to the war employed in the New 'Zealand Post and Telegraph Department, and more recently filled the position of an attendant at tho Porirua Mental Hospital. He was charged with a breach of the War Regulations at Porirua on February 11 last, 'inasmuch as lie published a statement indicating disloyalty in respect to the.present war, viz.: "Thero is only one nation that will win, and that is Germany, and it won't be long." There was a second information' charging him toll making a disloyal statement on tbo same date in regard to the. sinking of the Lusitania. Mr. V. R. Meredith, of tho Crown Law Office, appeared for the prosecution, while the accused, who pleaded not guilty, conducted his own defence. "Absolutely Intolerable." Mr. Meredith, in opening the ease, stated that accused was a Norwegian by birth, and, although he declared himself to be a naturalised British subject, no trace of his naturalisation could be found. He must therefore be treated .as an alien friend. Now an alien friend, while in British territory, owed loyalty to the Crown, and this loj'aßy was to be judged by tho measure of . protection, which lie and his family received. . How. the accused appreciate'd that . protection .would bo shown by the. statements he made while in the employ of the New Zealand Government, for oil the occasion mentioned, lie was. ail • attendant at . the Porirua Mental Hospital. The witnesses would say that: lie was not. speaking at the time' as a: dispassionate critic,.but that he persisted in the statements complained of after lie had been . warned. It would be for His Worship to say if tho statements ,came within the scope of ' the Vv ar Regulations, but, if His AVorship • held that the statements were (fisloyal,- counsel submitted that it was absolutely intolerable that an alien should be allowed to go about harbouring these feelings of. animosity against the nation, and intolerable that he should be allowed to voice them after being warned. The Lusitania. . Frank Tonkyn Otton, a railway employee, stationed at the Porirua railway station, gave evidence as to statements ni.ade by_ Anderson at-the station on the evening of February 11. Ander- ! son' opened the conversation bv remarking that .lie had previously been engaged in a heated argument in the train in reference to the war. The conversation then drifted to the Lusitania, and' Anderson expressed the opinion that the Germans wore justified Tn sinking the' vessel., When .asked by witness as to what he would l say if he had a wife or child aboard, Anderson replied: "Servo the right for being there!'-' Later Anderson said in reference t-o the issue of the war that there was only one nation in it, that that nation was Germany, and that she would win the war before very long. Tile statements were made with apparent. animus.

Anderson cross-examined the witness with a view to showing that the,statements made were merely put forward on the authority of a book which he (Anderson) read, but the witness denied that this was so, although the -accused, -ho said, had mentioned the "Ileview of Reviews" towards the end of the conversation.

■ William "Windley, a, farmer, gave corroborative evidence ,and remarked that Anderson was bitter against the British. - ■

In answer to Anderson, the witness denied 1 having any Whisky in the booking office at the station. Otton and another man had the whisky, but when they had it with Anderson they did not know what sort of man he was. .

Abraham Firth Williams, another •railway employee, also gave corroborative evid 3'i;e.

! Accused's Defence,

Andrew Theodore Anderson, . the accused, in giving evidence in defence, said that he had merely quoted to the others statemnts from an interesting hook ..which ho ha dread. Ho denied absolutely that ho had made any statements as expressions of personal opinion. Ho . had been in New Zealand since he was 18 years of:age, had beeii 'it volunteer for 17 or 18 years, and had always been a loyal subject. Ho had forgotten his own country years ago, and had now only one country— Now Zealand. His son, who was 19 years of age, had volunteered for service with the Expeditionary Forces, and he (Anderson) was proud of him. £15 Fine—No,Time to Pay. Tho Magistrate was of opinion 'that accused must bo convicted. The evidence given by three witnesses for the prosecution . was jjiven clearly, and in His Worship's opinion those witnesses were witnesses for truth, and had related what actually occurred. In regard to tlio statement about the Lusitania, that only referred to the accused's own wife and'children, and as nothing else was included in the information, no conviction could bo recorded! on that ground. ;,Tho other statement was clear* ly 3. disloyal st-atement, and on that charge a conviction would be;recorded. The fine would bo the same as imposed in a previous case —£25, and costs and expenses, totalling £3 lis. 6d. Anderson asked for time to find tho money, but the Magistrate was not dis. posed to acccde to the request, and default was fixed at two months lmpnsonment.

CASE IN PALMERSTON. By Telegraph—Press Association,

palmerston North, March 13. Application was made to Mr. J. W Poynton, S.M., for a rehearing of the caso in ivlich Ellen Fuller was chargod with disloyal utterances on the railway station a few weeks ago. Mr. A. S. Mcnteath ,of Wellington, made the application. Counsel said that accuseds niontal balance and tender wore tho major factors that had caused the trouble, and argued that the words used did not contravene tho War Rcgu. lations Act. Counsel also referred to her age—7o years. His Worship said that the offonco was absolutely inosousable, find ha could not see'his way to a)tor the sentence of two montW imprisonment previously passed, with the exception that hard labour would he remitted. Leave to appeal "was granted.