The Fitzgerald Case.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 25 October 1917, Page 3

The Fitzgerald Case.

MEMBERS OF COURT-MARTIAL TO BE SUED. Acting on behalf of Samuel Edward Fitzgerald, of the city of Wellington, seaman, at present in camp at Trentham, and to whose case reference was made in the House of Representatives a few weeks ago, Mr P. J. O 'Regan has issued a writ for £1000 damages for wrongful imprisonment against the officers who comprised the District CourtMartial by which the plaintiff was sentenced in March last to twelve month's imprisonment. The defendants named in the writ are Captain Clarence Reginald Macdonald, of Trentham; Lieuten-ant-Colonel David Pringlc, of Palmerston North; Richard Clement Kirk, of Wellington, barrister and solicitor; Captain William Brouncher Powell Thring, Wellington; Captain Frank Herbert Salter, of Christclmrch; Captain William Quayle Kewish, of Auckland; and Colonel John Edward Hume, of Palmerston North. The action is grounded on the allegation that the court-martial -vvas illegally constituted in that Mr Kirk was not qualified to sit thereon, he being at the time an officer on the Retired List; also that the plaintiff Fitzgerald was not, in fact, a deserter. It will bo remembered that the Fitzgerald case was the subject of some strong comments in the House by Mr P. C. Webb, the member for Grey, when speaking on the second reading of the Expeditionary Forces Amendment Bill on the night of Friday, September 14th. Mr Webb drew attention to the provisions of clause 10 of the Bill, which is clearly intended to be retrospective in its operation, and the alleged purport of which is to legalise the tribunal by whom Fitzgerald was sentenced. On that occasion the debate was adjourned on the motion of Mr Anderson, of Mataura, and has not been resumed since. Should the clause be passed into law, it would appear that Fitzgerald's action eannot proceed. Fitzgerald's sentence was remitted by the Governor early in September, and he is now at Trentham, and it is understood that, as the result of a further medical examination, he has now been classed for Home Service only.