INCITING TO VIOLENCE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2453, 13 July 1922, Page 3

INCITING TO VIOLENCE.

FINE OF £25 IMPOSED. Wellington, July 11. At the Police Court, the case against Alexander Galbraith, charged with inciting violence in an address on the “Downfall of Capitalism,” the defence wfia a denial of the charge. It was contended that the lecture was a scientific one and that there w&s no intention to excite to violence. The Magistrate, Mr Hunt, SM., said he had no doabt the accused had used the words which brought about the prosecution and .was satisfied that the speech encouraged lawlessness. “Galbraith was probably carried a- • way by bis subject,” he said, “and I am satisfied he did not put a curb on his tongue in order to comply with the law. If these speeches are used indiscriminately, it will become very, difficult to keep peace. This sort of speech may fall upon illbalanced minds and result in crimes and violence. Such a person might bring a revolver and shoot a capitalist, for instance. It is to the benefit of the country that this sort of thing should stop.. Had the speech been made in the street I should have had not the slightest hesitation in sending the accused to gaoL If the accused aspired to be a maker ' of law, he should first learn to abide by it.” A fine of £25 was imposed, with costs, in default two months imprisonment.