BAIL REFUSED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 February 1941, Page 5

BAIL REFUSED

PENDING APPEAL COURT HEARING CHRISTCHURCH SUBVERSION CASE. ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S RULING. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH. February 18. The Attorney-General. Mr H. G. R. Mason, today refused a request from Harold Alexander Ostler and Travers Burnell Christopher Christie, who were sentenced in the Supreme Court in the morning to be allowed bail pending the hearing of their case by the Court of Appeal, Ostler and Christie were sentenced to imprisonment for a year on a charge of attempting to publish a subversive statement. Today they sent the following telegram to the Attorney-General. "Hereby make i application for favourable consideration of bail pending appeal before Court of Appeal. Ostler and Christie, Paparua." The following is the telegraphed reply from the Attorney-General, "Your telegram received applying for favourable consideration of bail pending hearing of app-eaL In view of clandestine nature of offence, bail cannot be granted—H G. R. Mason. Al-! torney-General.” It was stated by Mr Justice North-i croft in the Supreme Court on Mon-I day that the relevant section of the! Emergency Regulations did not allow ! the Court to release the accused on ; bail unless directed by the Attorney-1 General, It was the practice to re-j lease prisoners on satisfactory bails where the case was to go before the ( Court of Appeal, but that was pro- i hibited by the regulations without the' Attorney-General's permission.

The Attorney-General also received yesterday a number of telegrams urging that bail be allowed accused, Mr L. Locke, local secretary of the Communist Party, stated today that Ostler had written to the Prime Minister (Mr Fraser) asking for a Royal Commission to inquire into the allegations he made in the Court of an offer from the Solicitor-General, Mr H H. Cornish, and to inquire into the procedure followed by the police in securing evidence for the trial.