TREASON TRIAL

Hokitika Guardian, 7 August 1929, Page 8

TREASON TRIAL

BOMBAY, India, June 25

An extraordinary series of preliminary objections marked tlie resumption to-day of the magisterial inquiry at Meerut, in the'United Provinces, of the case in which) 32 Communists are charged with attempting to deprive the King-Emperor of his Sovereignty and replace the existing Government by the Moscow system. Thirty-one of the accused were arrested in the big police round-up last March ■ the other-man is H. L. Hutchinson, a British journalist, recently arrested at Nagpur. The accused include two other British Communists, named respectively Bradley and Spratt.

• The accused, as before, entered the court singing the Communist Internationale song, which they followed by shouts of “Down with Imperialism! Up with'-Revolution! ” and other Coin.munist slogans. .

“INSOLENT CHALLENGE.” Mr Shina, one of the counsel (for the defence,' caused a sensation by accusing Lord Irwin, the Viceroy, of seriously prejudicing the case of the accused by his speech at the Chelmsford Club last week. Lord Irwin warned Communist sympathisers in England that the Public Safety Ordinance was a clear danger signal to them that if they came to India to reinforce those who preached their doctrines here they could not count on a free run of indefinite period 'for the dissemination of their mischievous creed.

The magistrate, Mr Milner White, replied that he had read the Viceroy’s speech and could see nothing objectionable in it. .The trial could not have been instituted unless in the Government's opinion the accused had committed the offence.

Air Langford James, counsel for the prosecution, then proceeded with his opening address, which was frequently interrupted by counsel for the defence.

AIOSCOW’S ORDERS. SECRET MESSENGERS TO BRITISH COMMUNIST. i MEERUT, June 25. Mr Langford' James read extracts from the letters of a- number of Communists which he contended, i showed how the British Communist Party, at the behest of the Comintern (Red International), had carried on propaganda among ' Indian students at various Rritish universities. He declared that a number df interviews had taken place between British Communists and Messrs Chaman Lai, Joslii, and .Goswani, members of .the Indian Legislative Assembly. With the exception of Mr Chaman Lai, counsel declared, “ they cut no ice.” He described Air Chaman Lai as a “champion acrobat.”- The Communist Party in Great Britain, Air James said, had tried their utmost to get young Indian students returning from Oxford to join the movement and carry on propaganda in India.

Mr James gave an elaborate description of the present conspiracy, which, ho asserted, started with the arrival of Gladding,, the first emissary. He arrived under the assumed name of Cochrane, and was followed by Allison, who bad “ bad taste because he came with a false passport and was sent away again before doing much work.” Spratt reached India in the humble capacity o'f bookseller, his profession in England. He was a Communist, being a member of the National Minority .Movement and the. Red International Labour Union. He started the Workers’ Party in Bombay with the object of the attainment of Swaraj (Home ltule) by mass action leading to revolution, a general strike, the seizure of power, the destruction of the State, and the erection of a new one on Communist lines., “ CRAY’S ELEGY ” CODE. My Langford James then- read some coded letters which liad passed between the Comintern and Spratt imparting instructions, and several notes' full of figures like 26y7 1/8, etc. These could be decoded through Gray’s “Elegy,” the 'former meaning the 26th line and the. seventh word. Between the lines messages were written in invisible ink which were rendered visible by the application of certain chemicals. One such message instructed Spratt to get up a strong delegation from India to proceed to Canton to attend a meeting of the Pan-Pacific trade union secretariat, and after that to go on to Moscow, while Spratt had outlined a scheme for he estblishment of an All India Communist organisation at a cost of £IBO monthly.

The letters also showed that money had been received via the frontier, and that someone went (from Lahore to the frontier to receive this money. The letters made references to Cliaman Lai and some of the accused. Hutchinson, the accused -English journalist, arrived in India in September and took up Communist work in earnest. The seized correspondence showed that there had been regular arrangements . for communication through persons travelling in the guise of lashkars. BOMBAY June 26. On the resumption of the court proceedings at Aleerut today, Diwan Chaman Lai, one of the counsel for the defence, filed an application of objection to Air Langford James, counsel for the Crown, proceeding with his address The ground of the objection was that there was no provision for such an address in the Criminal Procedure Code Diwan Cjhaman Lai described thie speech for the prosecution as propaganda

Mr Sinlia, another counsel (for the defence, announced that it was proposed to move in the High Court for tlie transference off the inquiry to Allahabad.

Air. Langford James announced that he possessed a mass < of evidence to prove that the strikes in Bombay and Calcutta had been instigated, carried on, aiid prolonged 'by the accused men, who were proud of their work. Their activities consisted in poisoning the minds of the youth in the country by obeying Aloscow’s edict: “Get hold of every child from his cradle and teach him class war.”

A STRANGLEHOLD. Mr James stated that at one meeting at which several of the accused were present a resolution was passed praying for the peace of Lenin’s soul He felt, he said, that this resolution hit Lenin below the belt, as he would not have appreciated prayers for his soul—at least during his lifetime. .Counsel declared that the object behind the strikes fomented by the accused men was to seize the raliways. dockyards, tramways, commerce, and textile industry of Bombay and Calcutta. They even boasted o'f having captur-. ed the ammunition factory at Inchaky and the arsenal at Kirkee. Their intention was to get a stranglehold upon the means of communication.

The minutes of the meetings held in India were sent to Moscow, and the accused men drafted a Constitution whereby India would have a DemocraSocaihst republic:

Air Langford James’s address lasted altogether 17 hours. He surveyed a vast ground,„quoted several letters which had been intercepted and photographed, decoded ciphers, and disclosalleged secret plans. To-day’s hearing ended with a surprise. The casei.was postponed with the consent of hotlL sides, until July 9 to enable the defence to move in the High Court for the transference of the case.