RIOT CHARGES

Hokitika Guardian, 30 May 1932, Page 3

RIOT CHARGES

HIS HONOUR’S ADDRESS

AUCKLAND, May 28

After the verdict of the jury had been returned last evening the presiding judge, Mr Justice Herdman addressing the accused said : “You men have been very properly convicted by the jury of a very grave offence. This- is one of the mo.=t serious cases that it has been my lot to try since I occupied a seat upon the Bench. I deeply regret that you and others have defamed the reputation of a country which has been in days gone by singularly happy and peaceful. You may believe.; ithlt you may successfully achieve some ill-conceived purpose by violence, but you will not. Sound, thoughtful speech is a more potent instrument than a riot. To-day you will realise, or ought to realise, where unjustifiable physical force lands you, for it means weeks and months of isolation and disgrace. For your families if means misery and perhaps want. “When the happiness and peac e of the country arc threatened by determined law-breakers the authority oi the 'State is asserted in a way that leaves no room for misconception. In the present instance the law has been in motion and now you are witnesses of your own fate. I hope that the punishment 1 propose to inflict will make you and those who 1 have been associated with you understand that a repetition of what took place on April 14th achieves nothing except an unpleasant experience in the. criminal dock and the punishment and obloquy of imprisonment. “During this trial there was some dwddcnce that there existed in our midst a sect which does not hesitate at violence, which is busy sowing the seeds of dissension, which aim-' at setting class against class, a sect whore activities can only produce unhappiness and strife. To describe such a body a learned Judge in England quoted the following lines—a sect whose chief devotion, lies in odd perverse antipathies. I am sure the authorities realise how necessary it is that such an organisation should be, speedily chocked. TRIBUTE to police.

"Before announcing the punK-hm-nt that I propose to inflict, I wish to associate* myself with the observations made about the behaviour of the members of the Police Force whose duty it was to protect- the Town Hall when the attack was made upon it: Some wore knocked to the' ground, trodden upon, and kicked. Some were so seriously injured that their lives were in danger. Even now it is doubtful whether some will ever completely recover. Their courage in the face of an overwhelming force deserves the highest praise. -What would have happened to those inside that hall bad there been no police protection it is difficult to imagine. The police .secured the safety of those who were there, and in the. deslpe-rate position in which the police were placed gave an exhibition of tact and devotion to duty as will’ long be remembered by respectable law-ab ding citizens of Auckland.’’