WHAT HE MEANT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 127, 31 May 1935, Page 8

WHAT HE MEANT.

EDITOR EXPLAINS,

"MINISTER BEING SHIELDED."

REPLIES TO QUESTIONS. (By Telegraph.—Special to "Star.") WELLINGTON, this day. This morning the defendant, Albert Edward Robinson, editor of "Farming First," was cross-examined by Mr. Treadwell, the prosecutor's counsel. He was asked when lie inserted quotation marks in the sentence ''hence the decision of the Commissioner of Police not to prosecute." He said he would add the quotations after writing the words. Possibly, in reading it through, he touched the marks again. Witness was requested to examine his manuscript under a magnifying glass and sav if the marks bore the remotest connection to the original. Defendant: I cannot explain it. air. Treadwell: Will you agree that the quotation marks bear 110 resemblance in colour to the rest of the article?— Perhaps I used a fountaii pen in writing the article and then dipped the pen in other ink. You suggest that the presence of a Minister was the reason why the prosecution was improperly limited? Had the Minister been in the room?—My point was that the Minister being the bigger fish the impetus to release the prisoners was greater". " Interference " Alleged. Defendant added that lie corrected the reference to the commissioner on legal advice. He still held to the view that there was interference. "The Minister was actuated from outside," he said. "I was told that the Minister of Agriculture was going to take the coat oil' my back." What did you mean Tiy the reference, "and are shielded in doing so by the machinery of justice"? To whom did you refer?—-I was thinking of the Minister of Agriculture being shielded by the Minister of Justice and his staff. You put this article In another publication?— That's nothing. The printer takes stuff from "Farming First" to fill up the paper 'Why?'" " Who Was the M.P.?" Answering further questions, witness said his attention was first called to the gravity of the article when a member of Parliament told him the impression in Parliament was that his articles, were scurrilous. He challenged this. Mr. Treadwell: Who was the member? Witness: It is unfair to mention the name. He was called here to give important evidence and not allowed to give it. !Mr. Stilwell remarked that it would unnecessarily widen the matter to introduce the name. Mr. Treadwell: What inquiries did you make to justify the statements in your 'article? Who told you? Defendant: You are trying to get the name again. The magistrate requested the witness to answer the first question. Defendant replied that subsequent information came to him from the same gentleman. "I was informed," he said, "that Mr. C'obbe told him the reason why they did not prosecute was: 'How can you? Look at the crowd of people present. There were bankers and all sorts of persons present.'" Mr. Treadwell: In the light of the contradicting evidence of the two Ministers do you still maintain the article was justified?— Mr. Cobbe took his lead from the evidence given here, and said the names included unemployed and labourers. I warn you that is a grave statement. Do you wish to retract it?— No. I suggest it is nothing more or less than a vicious political attack on .the Minister of Agriculture, without the slightest foundation in truth?—l don't know what you think. Candidate, For Tauran^a. Are you standing against the Minister at the next election? Witness called this question "a double-edged sword." He said he had been asked to stand for Tauranga, and whether Mr. Macmillan stood was his own business. Do you still suggest that Mr. Wohlmann, as the servant of the Minister of Justice, discriminated between the rich and poor?— There are one and a half million people in this country and they all agree about it. Counsel pressed for a straight negative or positive answer, and finally asked the magistrate to instruct the witness to answer the question. Defendant: It is a wish to incriminate me bv saying Mr. Wohlmann was responsible. Mr. Stilwell (to witness) : It is a perfectly proper, straight question. Surely you know the English language. Witness: It's a trap. Mr. Treadwell again asked the witness to say definitely whether lie contended there was discrimination between rich and poor in the Te Aroha raid. Witness: I said Mr. Wohlmann obeyed orders in doing so. You are asking me to say impossibilities. Mr. Stilwell: You have said quite candidly that Air. Wohlmann obeyed orders in doing so. We need not go further. Defendant: If he did so. Reports Not Admitted. Arthur R. D. Fairburn, assistant secretary of the Auckland F; irmers' Union, stated that ho did most of the editorial work for the journal "Why?" and the amendment which appeared in the "Farming First" article was also made in the second journal. Witness produced reports of police raids in several cities, but Mr. Treadwell protested that it was carrying the thing too far if newspaper reports could be taken as evidence. Mr. Sexton suggested he was entitled to put in newspaper reports, but the magistrate ruled against liim, pointing out that they constituted only the reporter's idea of a ease.