VERDICT OF GUILTY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 107, 8 May 1941, Page 16

VERDICT OF GUILTY

SUBVERSION CASE

PACIFIST SOCIETY SECRETARY

(P.A.) WELLINGTON'. Wednesday. A verdict of guilty to charges of publishing a subversive document and attempting to conduct a meeting prohibited under the Public Safety Emergency Regulations by Superintendent Lopdell was returned by a jury in the Supreme Court against Archibald Charles Barrington, aged 35. secretary of the Christian Pacifist Society. \ Toward the close of a long address to the jury, Barrington announced that the next speaker for the society wen lid be a woman In summing up, the Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, said the Court was not concerned with what might be said or published in other parts of the world, whether in Britain or elsewhere. New Zealanders were bound by their own Jaw at a time when the country and the Empire were engaged in what was a struggle lor existence.

"We must have unity," Sir Michael said. "We must have harmony and no deceptions, no public disturbances which would inevitably divert the minds of the people from the main consideration." The Chief Justice intimated that if the jury were satisfied as to the guilt of the accused, it would be sufficient to find him guilty of publishing a subversive document and attempting to conduct a prohibited meeting. The prisoner was remanded until Friday for sentence.