SCURRILOUS PAMPHLETS

Evening Star, Issue 23682, 16 September 1940, Page 6

SCURRILOUS PAMPHLETS

PUBLICATION OF SUBVERSIVE STATEMENT BARBER SENTENCED TO TWELVE MONTHS’ IMPRISONMENT [Per United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, September 16. The possession of pamphlets, which wore described by Mr Stout, S.M., as being of a scurrilous nature, resulted in tho conviction in His Worship’s reserved judgment of James Kclmau (37), a hairdresser, who was charged last Thursday with having in his possession 127 copies of a pamphlet entitled ‘ Murder,’ with a view to facilitating tho publication of a subversive statement. Accused was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment with hard labour.

The Magistrate said he did not think it could seriously bo contended that the pamphlets did not contain a subversive statement. The accused had given no evidence to explain his possession of them, and His Worship thought, it would properly be inferred that the only reason for his having them in his possession was to facilitate their publication.

[At the hearing of the case, Seniordetectivo Doyle said that as the result of complaints received a detective interviewed tho accused, who was the sole occupier of a “ bach ” at the back of a house. There die detective found a fairly extensive collection of books from the Loft Book Club. The accused told the detective that he was a member of tho Esperanto Society, but the detective did not find literature of the kind the police were seeking. A suitcase was found to contain Esperanto correspondence and tho bundle of pamphlets which were the subject of the charge. Tho accused expressed groat amazement at these, saying he had never seen them before. They were not in the suitcase when he looked in it a few days before. In the breast pocket of a coat there was a letter from the organiser of the Wellington branch of the Communist Party. With reference to this the accused said: “That is a different matter. That’s a different story.” Mr Doyle indicated that similar pamphlets had been posted throughout the city. Each pamphlet stated that it was issued by the National Committee of the Peace and Anti-conscription Council. The police had stopped meetings of that body, and on the surface it had been defunct so far as the police knew.]