JOYCE A U.S. SUBJECT

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24676, 20 September 1945, Page 5

JOYCE A U.S. SUBJECT

Judge’s Ruling At Trial ALLEGIANCE ISSUE ARGUED (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON. Sept 19. The third day of the trial of William Joyce, who is charged at the Old Bailey with high treason, opened with further argument as to whether or not the prisoner owed allegiance to the British Crown. Yesterday, Mr Justice Tucker ruled that the evidence that Joyce was an American and not a British subject was overwhelming. Only one count — that of traitorously adhering to the King’s enemies by broadcasting from Germany, while holding a British passport. between September 18, 1939, and July 2. 1940—will therefore go to the jury. After the Judge's ruling the Attor-ney-General (Sir Hartley Shawcross, K.C.) pointed out that the passport entitled a person to protection, outside his own country. He concluded by urging that an alien could be prosecuted if he accepted the protection of a passport, which, he submitted, Joyce had done. The Judge reserved his ruling on the point. Frank Holland testified that late In the last century in Lancashire he knew Gertrude Emily Brooke, who went to the United States in 1905 and married Michael Joyce. He called on them at Brooklyn, New York, in 1906, when they had a son William, a few months old. He again visited them in America in 1909, when Michael Joyce told him he had become a United States citizen. The witness said that he saw Joyce and his family at East Dulwich, England, in 1919, when Michael Joyce and his wife had both been required to register as aliens. Edwin Quentin Joyce, the third son of Michael Joyce, said-in evidence that he saw his father burn a number of papers about il years ago, including one with an American seal. His father told him on a number of occasions that he was an American, but he cautioned him not to talk* about it. as it might not be in his interest. The last witness for the defence. Henry Stebbings, First Secretary at the United States Embassy in London, said that the swearing of the oath in a petition for naturalisation by Michael Joyce granted him an American citizenship. According to American law, a son -born to him in America would be an American citizen by birth., Sif Hartley Shawcross quoted a case dated 1701 and asserted that an alien travelling abroad with a British passport was as much under the protection of the Crbwn as a British subject travelling with a similar passport. A British passport could be used in a belligerent country, at least to the extent of entitling thq bolder to intervention by the protecting Power. Counsel for Joyce contended that Sir Hartley Shawcross’s argument proved, with one possible exception, that an alien owed allegiance to His Majesty only while resident in the King’s Dominions. , “We are concerned' here with a British qpssport issued to an American subject, but the Crown has no jurisdiction on the issue of a passport to an American subject,” he said.

6500 MILES’ FLIGHT

NON STOP TRIP FROM JAPAN TO U;S. SUPERFORTRESSES* EXPERIMENT (Rec. 10 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Sept. 18. The United States War Department has announced that three Superfortresses have left the Mizutani airfield in southern Hokkaido (Japan), on a hbn-stop flight of 65Q0 miles to Washington. They'”'are regular combat Superfortresses, with their turrets’and some armour removed. Each is carrying a crew of 12, all veterans of bombing raids against Japan, The planes are commanded by Lieu-tenant-General Barney Giles, MajorGeneral Curtis leMay, and BrigadierGeneral Emmett. O’Donnel respectively. 1 The course is a great circular route over the Kuriles, and across the Aleutians, the Canadian Rockies, Minnesota, and Michigeji to Washington. The flight is intended as a concrete example of the current and future potentialities of air power. ’ / The Superfortresses left about 8 pjn. (G.M.T.) yesterday, and'are scheduled to complete the trip in 25 or 20 hours. The War Department withheld the announcement of the flight until the planes made radio contact with the Aleutian bases. The flight will take advantage of the favourable prevailing winds round 30.000 feet or more. The planes are roughly following the course of the Japanese incendiary loons, which were also launched from Hokkaido. Each plane is carrying 9000 gallons of fuel. The world's record non-stop flight was made in 1938 by two Royal Air Force planes, which flew from Ismailia Egypt, to Darwin, Australia, a distance of 7158J miles.

U.S. INDUSTRIAL / STRIFE ACTION TAKEN BY PRESIDENT (Rec. 10 p.m.) NEW YORK. Sept. 19. Acting to arrest the spreading wave of industrial strife, President Truman ordered a comprehensive reorganisation of the Department of Labour, in which the National War Labour Board, the United States Employ ;ent Service and the War Manpower Commission* are placed under the jurisdiction of the. Secretary of Labour (Dr. L, B. Schwellenbach). The latter immediately appointed Mr Edgar Warren to be the new head of the United States Conciliation Service, with orders to attempt to reach a negotiated settlement in the threatening Detroit automobile situation. . Mr Truman said he did not intend “cracking down” on Detroit, or elsewhere, until all possible metnods of a peacelul negotiated settlement ma been thoroughly explored.

N.S.W. COAL LOSSES MINERS’ STOP-WORK MEETINGS (Rec. 5.5 p.m.) SYDNEY, Sept. 19. “More than 60,000 tons of coal will be lost by the miners’ one-day stopwork meetings to discuss the decisions of the recent convention.” said the Commonwealth Coal Commissioner (Mr N. R. Mighell). . “I am amazed at this action, which is being taken in complete disregard of the public interest. It seems utterly opposed to the recent statements by leaders of the Miners’ Federation urging greater production because of the precarious position of stocks. This loss of coal will hasten unemployment, hardship, and inconvenience, now inevitable as a result of past strikes. Nine mines were idle in New South Wales yesterday and nearly 6500 tons of coal were lost.