SMILES IN AUSTERITY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 73, 28 March 1933, Page 7

SMILES IN AUSTERITY.

Gloomy Scene At Court-martial Trial. INNOCENT USE OF CODE NAMES LONDON, March 22. The austerity of the drill.hall, in which the court-martial of Lieutenant BaillieStewart is taking place, has communicated itself to the entire proceedings. It is a cold, gloomy chamber in which mess tables have been lashed together to provide an enclosure for 00 members of the public—mostly unemployed. This accentuates the depressing surroundings, though the uniforms of the officers redeem the picture of utter drabness. Stewart made a soldierly entry and his demeanour is cheerful, despite his I pallor. He frequently whispered, with a smile, to his counsel, even before the Court went into camera. * Lieutenant-Colonel Syms, of the Adju-tant-General's office, though emphasising the nature of Stewart's behaviour, as disclosed by his story, said that it

might even then be accepted, if Stewart, could truly say that he stayed with the woman ("Marie Louise") at an hotel. Ho might then have escaped the charges, because a liaison was not a crime. Witness also said that under instructions, he asked Stewart at Aldershot in January to explain why he stayed at the Berlin hotel, sought contact with the German Intelligence service, and was interviewed by a German officer at the hotel. He acknowledged using rpparently code names in connection with remittances from Germany. He said he did not know Obst's profession and was surprised when witness disclosed that Obst was German for -'fruit," that Poiret was French for "little pear," and that Marie Louise was the name of a pep.r.