SUBVERSION CHARGE

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 270, 13 August 1942, Page 8

SUBVERSION CHARGE

Clerk At Military Camp Pleads Not Guilty

DISCOVERY OF STENCILS A charge of having in his possession for the purpose of publication two subversive documents was made in the Magistrates’ Court, Wellington, against Harold William Klein, clerk in the headquarters office at a military camp for the past 12 months. He pleaded not guilty, and was committed to the Supreme Court for trial. Bail was granted by Mr. .Stout, ■ S.M., for £lOO, and Klein was allowed to return to duty at camp. A charge of stealing seven stencils to which he also pleaded not guilty, was; deferred till after the hearing of the major case. Accused was represented by Mr. E. Sergeant William Patrick Cowan, tvpist-clerk at headqquarters at the camp, stated that on April 25 when going on leave, he had taken from the office a coat he thought was his, and found in the pocket a bundle of stencils of the same serial number as those used in the camp then. He had read one of the stencils, and not liking the sound of it, had placed ‘ them in a drawer. Later it was found' that Klein had taken witnesses- coat. Other articles in the pockets had been. • placed in a cupboard where Klein had •been seen looking on his return from leave. Klein had been in the office for about 12 months. Asked when accused had ever expressed Communistic views, the witness replied’: "He always seemed to stick up for the Russians.’’ Other witnesses corroborated the evidence of the coat and the stencils. Captain Doughty said he identified the stencils as those used in the camp office by the factory mark.. He knew that Klein was interested in a general way in Russia. , - „ . r. When interviewed by Detectivt-Ser-geant W. C. Murch, Klein said he was not a member of the Communist Party, but held similar political opinions. A search of his effects had produced pencilled notes and a membership card of the New Zealand Society for Closer Relations with Russia.