The Press. Thursday, May 9, 1918. The Sedition Charges.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16207, 9 May 1918, Page 6

The Press. Thursday, May 9, 1918. The Sedition Charges.

. j The sentences passed, by the Magis- ,■ trate yesterday on the defendants charged with, seditious utterances at . the now notorious Second Division < . League meeting, should have a whole- - some effect in instilling a due sense of responsibility in the minds of those . 'who take upon themselves to address excited public meetings in the present critical stage of tho Empire's fortunes. Langley, president of the Lyttelton - / Wharf Labourers' Union, and Flood,* the secretary to the union, who moved the seditious amendments urging men of the Second Division not to go into camp until their demands for more ' liberal allowances had been complied - with! were sentenced to six months' ' imprisonment, and Hiram Hunter, secretary to the Tramway Workers' Union, was sentenced to three months' , imprisonment for seconding the amendment, which was ultimately carried. The defence was that the accused persons did not realise that the 'amendment in question was a breach of the War Kegulations, and that there was no seditious intent on their part. Stress was laid on the fact that the amendment was put to the meeting by the Mayor, who did not take exception •to it. In the case of ordinary persons among the audiencej who had <e dropped in" at the meeting, and had v got carried away by the excitement of . the occasion, a good deal of weight might have been allowed to the contention of their counsel. Even as it was, .we do not suppose that the men • fully realised that they were committing a breach of the law for -which they jnrould get three or six months' imprisonment. But that they were juilty of making a seditious utterance Js beyond question. The amendment .was a distinct incitement to the men who had been called up, and who were due to parade on the following day, • not to go into camp until their demands had been conceded by the Government. Its actual effect was seen the unusually largo proportion of men who failed to parade at the appointed .time. The defendants were not simply casual attendants at the meeting, but ' • were Labour leaders, with a long o| dealing Hj&h inflammably >

[material, who, with others, had insinni ated themselves into the Second Division League, and were deliberately trying to turn it to their own political purposes. This being so, it behoved them to be cautious how they proceeded, and if, at a timo like tho present, when the Empire is urgently calling for more men, they choso to incite men to hang back and strike for more pay, they must pav the penalty of thair recklessness, if only as a caution to others. "We simply cannot afford to take any risks of playing into tho hands of the enemy, when the very existence of the Empire is ab stake. One word in conclusion. The Second Division League in Christchurch, we understand, numbers some seven or eight hundred members. The great majority of these are perfectly loyal, quite ready to do their duty, anxious only to battle for what they consider to be their rights by constitutional means. What was this loyal majority about when it allowed a small anti-con-ecriptionist, ' ; Red Fed"' minority to capture the Loaguo, dominate the executive, and use the organisation for their own political purposes? The explanation seems to be that, in the spirit of indifforenee too ol'ten shown in Christchurch, the} - stayed away from meetings which they ought to have attended, and so allowed the irresponsibles to have their own way. Mr Maurice Gresson, about whom some hard things have been said, and who appears to have been rather ill-advised in some respects, certainly did his best to keep the League on constitutional lines. Had he been supported as ho ought to have been, possibly the present trouble might not have arisen, and Christchurch would have been spared tho latest slur on its fair name.