SEDITION CASES.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16210, 13 May 1918, Page 7

SEDITION CASES.

REMISSION OF SENTENCES

URGED

A iIATTER FOR CABINET.

Purine the past two days the Miu-j ■ t . r of Justice has received many telei, letters, and other commmucadons requesting n remission of the sentence of imprisonment passed at rtmstchurcb. on Wednesday on Hiram h££, JS. Lan elcy, and John Flood, * a charge of "utterance with sedic intent" at a public meeting £ys the Wellington "Post"). .J 1 "® W as brought before Mr Willord P Saturday by a deputation of the Advfsory lizard of Transport Workers Presenting the Waterside Workers' iedcration, the Federated Seamen s Son, the Amalgamated Society of Servants, the Tramway \VorkFederation, and the Drivers' Jiederaxj° Glover (president of the Watersiders' Federation) said that the mirDOse of tlio prosecution appeared to le rdirect hit at Labour.Mr J- Roberts (secretary of tho Federation) said that ho had been at fhristchurch on this matter. Fcejing was running very high there against the. sentences. Tho only intention of the men was to emphasise the point that the Government should givo adeonato consideration to requests of the Second Division League. The Christchurch "Press," which could not be mistaken for a Labour paper, had stated that tho threo men should be immediately released, provided guarantees of their good behaviour would be given. The convictions showed that there hud been class bias. lhe "encr.il feeling was that the men Should not have been sentenced, or that the penalty should have been much less severe. Mr W. T. Young (secretary of tho teamen's Union) stressed tho point that Mr Holland, Mayor of pinstchurch, with long experience in tho conduct of public meetings, was not aware of any seditious tendency in tho motion which he had put to tho meeting in question. Hoiv then could it be expected that the convicted men should have been aware of any such tendency 'i Another important tact was that though the war regulations provided for tines as an alternative form of penalty, he knew of no case in which a Labour man had been fined; the punishment was always by imprisonment. The Minister congratulated tho deputation on the moderate and reasonaole way in which it had stated its case. The position was that war regulations were under tho Attorney-General and tho Crown Law officers until a sentence was imposed. It was only after men were sent to prison that ho was concerned with tho question of a remission of sentence. He had enquired exhaustively into tho cases, and _ the evidence, with his recommendations, would be placed before Cabinet on Monday morning. He expected that the Government's decision would be announced by noon on Monday. MEETING OF TIMARU WORKERS. (special 10 "the tress.") TIMAIiU, May 12. At a woli-attended and representative meeting of workers, held unaer tho auspices of tho Tiinaru Waterside Workers' Union this afternoon, a resolution was unanimously passed as follows: —"That this union views with alarm the unjust and outrageous sentences passed «" Langley, Flood, and Hunter for 'alleged sedition. Wo consider them a direct attack upon organisod Labour, and demand tho immediate releaso 'of tho men; a copy of this resolution to bo forwarded to the Primo Minister, the Minister of Justice, and the newspapers." , In tho course of the discussion it was said to bo most unfair that the three representatives of Labour named had Men imprisoned, while no action had been taken against tho Mayor of Christchurch who put tho motion, and tlio 1800 peoplo wno had voted for it. . It was decidod that if tho men are no; released, another public mooting will bo hold in Timara at which tho Jnembors of all workers' unions and members of tho Second Division League Trill bo asked to. attend.