SEDITIOUS SPEECH

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2979, 17 January 1917, Page 4

SEDITIOUS SPEECH

ANTI-CONSCRIPTIONIST SECT TO GAOL

WHAT WAS FOUND IN HIS ROOM

Sidney Houguenot Fournier was yesterday charged before Mr. 8. E. M'Carthy, S.M., with having on January 7 published a. seditious utterance at a meeting held in Clyde Quay. Mr. P. S. K. Macassey appeared for the Crown. The accused was not represented by counsel.

The information alleged that the utterance of the accused was seditious in that the publication thereof had a tendency to excite opposition to the enforcement and administration of the laws in force in New Zealand relative to compulsory military service during, the present.war, to interfere with the proper administration thereof, to interfore with the recruiting of His Majesty's Forces and.with the effective conduct of the military preparations of His Majesty, to excite such hostility and ill-will between different classes of His Majesty's subjects as might endanger the public safety in respect of the present war, and to encourage lawlessness and disorder. Mr. Jlacassey said that the charge was laid under Clause 1 of the regulations of December 14, 1916, made under the AVar Regulations Act,-1914, the maximum penalty being imprisonment for 12 months or a fine of £100. A seditious utterance was denned as any utterance published with seditious intention, or tho publication of which had ii seditious tendency. Tho defondant's speech on Sunday, January 7, had heen reported hy a shorthand writer; and a copy of the whole would be laid before the Court. '.■■■.

A Searoh and a Find. "In connection with this case," continued Mr. Macaseey, "I desire to point, out that in this, man's room, -which was searched, the following articles were found:—lls cartridges, _ .303 calibre; a belt containing 50 similar cartridges; a pouch, containing 15 revolver cartridges, M calibre; a bludgeon in the form of a piece of rubber lioso containing shot, and plugged with cork; a book on sabotage; a blank I.SV.W. membership card; and a manual of field artillery training. The only Construction to be put on this discovery is that this man, if unable to seoure his objects by moral suasion, was determined to use violence."

Detective-Sergeant Mason said that on the afternoon of Sunday, January 7, ho had heard,the defendant address a meeting of from 350 to 400 people in Clyde, Quay. The defendant had a good hearing. Senior-Sergeant Willis said that on the day of the defendant's arrest )ve searched the room the latter ocoupied. The search resulted in the finding of the articles enumerated by Mr. MaoasBey in his opening. In addition to thoEe, anti-conscription, Socialist, andanarchist books arid pamphlets were found. •

Accused's Defence. The accused, who spoke with a foreign accent, addressed the Court. He said that the implication in the evidence of the police was of the most sinister, but he was able quite easily to rebut it. As marshal of the Central Strike Committee in 1913 he bad been required to attend to all publia functions and meetings organised in this connection, and it could nob be alleged for a moment that he, though virtually in control, had then been the occasion or abettor of any violence or disorder. The possession of the nrtioles referred to by the Crown Proseoutor and the police was very easily explained. TLey were a legacy from one Charte Hunt, a former room-mate and personal friend. Accused proceeded to o.elivor nn addiess on what he conceived to be the principles of democracy, but was interrupted by the Magistrate. "I am here," said His Worship, "to listen to your defence. You cannot bo allowed to go on indefinitely. _ Try and make your remarks more concise. _ Yon. are quite evidently a man of ability." Resuming, Fournier said that no law could he properly made that hindered its amendment or qualification by tho people. What he had done, and what he had said, had had no seditious intention, but on the contrary had had for its aim the public welfare. Hβ who subserved the public welfare could not be seditious. "I have said as much as I could in my defence," he concluded, "and I confidently expect acquittal. If lam not acquitted, I-will not ask for quarter." His Worship held that snoh an ■attitude as tliat of the accused tended-to complete anarchy, and was a negation of tho principle upon which democratic institutions were based. The accused was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment, with hard labour.

CASE IN CHRISTCHimOH.

By Teleeranh—Press Association. : Christohurch, January 16. T. Armstrong, a waterside worker at Lytteltoii, lias been arrested on a charge of using seditions utterances at a meeting of * anti-conscriptionists m Christplnirclr on December 81.