SEDITION.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16215, 18 May 1918, Page 4

SEDITION.

REV. J. H. G. CHAPPLE CONVICTED.

ELEVEN MONTHS' IMPRISONMENT

Tho hearing of the charges of having made seditious utterances at Greymouth on March 26th and 29th last, which wore preferred against the Rev. James Henry G. Chappie, at the Magistrate's Court, Christchurch, last Friday week, was continued yesterday before -Mr T. A. B. Bailey, S.M. The text of the utterance alleged to have bcon made on March -6th was as iollov s.— "Russia wanted u ar. England wanted war; the upper-class in .New Zealand wanted war. Never has thero been such a wonderful live days (meaning the days hi tin; Hussiun devolution), the o'cl iluisi:'. has gone out, and the new llussia has come in. I hope before 1 die to si-o a similar movement in New Zealand. 1 hope the day will come in New Zealand w nen those war loans 'will be ivu:idia;e>"l. 1 hope no!, a penny of tho wV.r loan will ever be repaid, foil did not aulliorise them."' The utterance alleged to have been made ou .March 50th was as follows"You are under the heel of the War Lords. \Ve have not enough population for our own country, yet wo are lusting alter the annexation of Samoa. The patriotic person is in our schools. Tiic children are taught to salute tho flag ami taught to sing the National Anthem. f '.ell my children when they co.no homo not to sing tho National Anthem. I ani hoping with a fervent hope that in this war thero will be no victor: to prey about a war is hlasi)hcn:v. A woman goes down the Valley of Death to bring a child into this world she nurses it sends it to school, cecs it through the sixth standard, then comes a call to arms, and it goes away to war. What for? To die for its country? No, to die for ihe profited. \Tr 'Raymond, K.C.. Crown Prosecutor, appeared for the prosecution, and Mr Twyneham appeared tor Chapwlie ploaded not guilty. 'f:,,, nrcmnmodation m ttie Cov'rt was fully occupied by interested members of tho public, the majority of tho=e present bemg_ women The acciucti received a mild round 01 anplanse on making his entry into the \lr Raymond said the informalions xv( vj l»:«r U'.uio, tho War Reflations •'■ft li'lo, t-ection 4. The AVords which were the subject of the charge were alleeed to have been uttered _ by the defendant at a public lecture 1:1 " re J" mouth, Mr llaymond read the words which were the .subject of the clmr-ie. lie said they were uttered by an edu-lied lecturer, and were part of a deiir;.a> campaign of propaganda. Senior-Sergeant J. K. Simpson., said ho attended at tho Opera House, Greymouth. on March 29th, ab t a loctuio given by defendant. The titlo of the Ic-turo "was '-Julius C'ajsnr or Je6US Christ," and it was given under the auspices of the Labour Representation Coi-.ncil. About 13$, or 150 people were present. The lecturer spoke about 1* hours, and his remarks wore roceivca with occasional applause. Witness had taken notes of what was said, and ho pioducecl thor.i./- Ho was not a shorthand writer, but wrote fast longhand. Witness read extracts from the notes ho had taken. These words were uttered by defendant, who was a stranger to the West Coast. To Mr Twyneham : The hall where the lecture took place was a fair-sized one, and witness was about half-way up tho hall. Defendant spoke clearly and fairly quickly. Defendant was well into his lecture when he (witness) took notes. He did not suggest that the wordß he took down were verbatim, but they fairly well covered tho whole loc- I ture. lie believed that defendant adued after thowords: "I teach my children not to sing the National Anthem, ' the words "I teach them to sing God savo tho people.'' Defendant enlarged on many of tho remarks jotted down. .The remarks witness jotted down were extracts, but he believed thev were I complete in themselves. Tf the sense of the extracts ho took down had been qualified by defendant he (witness) would have heard'tho qualification. He believed they had not been qualified. He believed defendant had auvocated bringing about reforms by constitutional means, and had not suggested revolutionary methods. Detoctive-Sorgoant Ward s toted that ho was at tho lecture referred to. Eo also took notes of passages of tho jsnooch in longhand. Tho speech was fairly well received by the 100 or so paoplo who r.'crc nro-ieal. Witness read from li!a notes, which were substantially tho ruune as those of tho previous witnow. W itiic-a (said thut to his mind I dofniidant did rob make any qualifications which moderated his statements. To Mr IVyneknrn: So would say that dofondant'rt remark that ho would tell liia children to sing "God savo the pcopW would bo n qualification of his remark f-.tutinr; thai: lie would toll theni not to sing the National Anthem. V/itnceu did not hear defendant rofe? to the u<so,of the ballot-bos and constitutional methods to bring about reforms. This was tho case for tho proaesittiuu, Sft' Twynplifl'.n, in defßu»p, subinUlptl

thai) tlio infriniinfeioiid eheuUt lis? <!h>li' t?»0 Words Inul bee'i iipr?! in the vi*ay tho wltiiceeM hn:t t)le:ii, (vinbably they could 1j? hold to he, hiull' tloiw, btsfc it had bean establish' ed that thi'Y hot! been utterly divorced from th rt h contest, luul vpro morn p*-

tl'acts from jm nddvcKS which took 1J h«t:rs to deliver, The polico had ndmUtod thnt qualifying statements lind lioc.i made. Tho words hot! nob IfoH im>d in tho wny not out in the iufm-nintionj, nm! L-c submitted thnt tlu-y garo un entirely orrar.ootia do* .-oWptloii of tho spfoch. Ho Bubmittoil thai the enso was not on all fotira with a chsreo of ituleront lun«un;jo. Jnth.'it eoso tho tisa of wmdit, oven qUiiliflcd, wtniW bo a ground for a chargo, hut in u cliargo of seditious utterance Mho conto.xb arid <jualificr.t : ons wore ull imyortnnt, and in this ease tho tnunmaiiocs woro cxtrosnely defective, and he suggestod to his Worfhip. that the charges t)u t!i&iuipsod. Under the circumstances it would ho difficult for tho defendant to show from memory what tho gaps in tho polico report had actually contained. Tho polico witnesses had admitted that defendant had advocated constitutional means, and ho thought it was for tho polico to show clearly ■what tho qualifications maao by tho defendant in his snfloch were. Ho also asked bis Worship to believe that it was manifestly impossible for tho two polico reports to bo practically identical without believing in a coincidcnco that wr>s beyond reasonable belief. j

His Worshii) id ho Lad no doubtthat iho words allied had Tieon uttered, ami the police bad stated that the other remarks did not modify their meaning. The only modification in the evidence wt.s the one referring to the singing of the National Antheni, and there was no need, in his opinion to forbid the singing of God Save the King, r.nd substituting the 6inging of God save the people. The whole tendency of tho speech had been to excite dissatisfaction with his Majesty's Government. defendant would be convicted.

Thfi first chargo wa3 than taken and Jlr llaymond suggested that the remarks attributed to defendant were a direct incitement to pooplo not to contribute to the war loans

I Evidence was given "by 9enior-Ser- ! gaant Simpson, who took notes of I address, "The Glorious Bolsheviks <>'' Russia," which wa£ delivered on March 2oth. At this locruro defendant lied spokon against Imperialism, and hud mod tho words made the Eubject of th» chars® ■ At Mr Twynoham's request tho v/itr.ess gave a demonstration of ho Juki taken the notes, Mr Twynehani reading sec ten :cs from a newspaper.

The witness did not got much down, and explained that defendant had spoken at a slower rate, «nd had uttered matter which impressed itself more ou the mind.

Detective-Sergeant Ward also gave evidence of the address on March 26tli, from which he had takon extracts. . To Mr lwyneham: Ho could only say it was a coincidence if he had taken down the same extracts as Sergeant Simpson. There was no collusion between him and the Sergeant, nnd his notes had not been altered in any way after the meeting. He had not heart! defendant refer to the use of the ballotbox and constitutional methods. This was the case for the prosecution. 3lr Twyneham asked for the dismissal of the case on the ground that the probabilities were all against the fact that the police had taken correct notes of tho case. The strange coincidence of the two witnesses' notes was one that should be noted by liis Worship, and he again pointed out that tho context of the address had been most ruthlessly mutilated. His Worship said that any suggestion to repudiate war loans or "that similar conditions to Russia should obtain in New Zealand were most dangerous, and he must convict defendant on this charge also. Ho considered that defendant. was a dangerous, man. especially at this time in tho country's history. He would be sentenced "to 11 mouths' imprisonment on cach charge, tho sentences to be concurrent.

There were low cries of "Shame," and the Court was declared adjourned. As the public was filing out, 0110 of the women raised her voice in passionate protest against the sentence. She gave her opinion of the authorities freely. Opportunity was taken to shake hancis with the defendant by many people before he was removed.