OBSCENE PRINT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 89, 16 April 1910, Page 5

OBSCENE PRINT.

SENTENCE ON A NEWSPAPER MANAGER. FOUR MONTHS' IMPRISONMENT AND £50 FINE. THE PRISONER COLLAPSES. Henry Stephen Ooburn, manager o! New Zealand Truth, came- bsfore Mr. Justice Chapman this morning for sentence on a charge of distributing obscene printed matter for public sale— a charge of which he had been found guilty at the last criminal sittings of the Supreme Court, and which conviction had been -apheld-by the Courfc of Appeal. Mr. Myers represented the Crown, and Mr. Wilford, with him Mr. Dnnn, appeared for the prisoner. Mr. Wilford said he desired to call evidence as to the character of the accused. Mr. Myers said the police gave accused a perfectly good character. His Hon-mir said he weald, assume that tho prisoner >vas of good character, and that the evidence had been given. Mr. Wilford then read affidavits by Dr. Bowerbank, Dr. M'Lean, and Dr. Perkins, in regard to the health of the prisoner. They were to the effect that he was suffering from chronic rheumatism and neurasthenia, and that confinement in gaol would ba prejudicial to his health. Mr. Wilford went on to point out that the jury had reoommeoded tha prisoner to meccy, and it -was fair to assume that ha, in the commercial part of the paper, had no controlling influence. He ca/led Gilbert J. Ryan, sub-editor of tha paper, wh-o said the article in qnestion first apipe^red in Sydney Truth, and then in BriMb-ane Truth. Mr. Rosa was then sub-editor of New Zealand Truth, and witr,ess told him that such an article, sliculd not be published in New Zealand Truth. However, he decided to publish it, although, witness had been given to understand that it would not ba published. Mr. .Rosa had been givencomplete editorial control of the paper, and warned against publishing obscene matter. The editor had tho first say.' Mr. Rosa was then the editor. To Mr. Myers : The distribution of the paper was in the hands of a ptaff of publishers. Cobarn was in charge of ihe business. Rosa, he understood, waa in Sydney. He could not say whether he was still in the service of Truth. There had been several prosecutions against the paper, and the man in charge had been dismissed. Mr. Wilford having made an appeal to the court for lenieacy, on account of prisoner's physical condition, His Honour passed sentence. He had very carefully attended, he said, to the observations of prisoner's counsel, and the affidavits which had been read. Ha accepted in the main the statements which had been made in those affidavits, but he would not be doing his duty if he were to refrain from sentencing prisoner to some term of imprisonment. He wished to say, however, that in making the term of imprisonment a short one,' he was taking into consideration what prisoner s counsel had urged, and, what he thought was very probable, that the two months which had elapsed since the trial had resulted in almost a worse punishment to prisoner than if he had spent that period in prison. He could quite understand that a man of respectable character, such as prisoner was, would suffer from the anxiety of that" period more than if the matter was at an end. The medical evidence, however, did not, to his mind, go beyond the statement that prisoner's complaint might be aggravated by imprisonment, llic actual period, however, for which pnsovier would be imprisoned would be so short that he had no reason to fear t'jat prisoner would suffer seriously from the incarceration. "A man who is imprisoned in this country," said his Honour, "is humanely treated, and you will receive in prison as good treatment as if you were in the hospital, iam quite satisfied of that. Moreover, you will-" receive medical attention, and* if there is any fear that serious ultimate injury will be done to your health, a recommendation for your release will be made to the Government at once. There i« no risk of your suffering ultimate permanent injury. "What I have to consider in this case (though I certainly have to consider it as your case) is that it is a case in which the public are interested. You may be the victim of others vho were making money out of this kind of thing, I accept the statement that you had no personal advantage from, it, and that you were the tool of others in tbe matter. But vod have allowed yourself to be the tool of others ; you accepted this position and you continued in this position ; you admitted that you knew there had he»n previous prosecutions, and you must have known that the paper had in the past published risky matter. It is true you did not know that this matter was in (hat particular paper, but you knew, what the witness you have called to-day knew, that in two States 'of Australia matter was published that could not b-> published here. The law in thofe States may be more lax than are our laws. Our laws are instituted in the interests of the young people, the children of the working people, who have not the same means of supervision over what is picked up in the streets ab those who can toll off servants to look after their children. You must have known that ; joy must have know the character of the general kind of matter that was appearing in the papei, and you. must have known " At ibis stage prisoner collapsed in the dock, and had to be carried below. After prisoner had been carried down to the cells Mr. Wilford said : I would ask your Honour to deal with the matter with as little delay as possible. His Honour: I will do co. Mr. Wilford : Could you not pass th» sentence now? His Honour : I must do so when he is present, and when he can understand me. Ie less than five minutes prisoner returned to the dock. His Honour : As I was pointing out, you had a general v knowledge cf tha matter which appeared in the paper. You admitted that in your evidence. Xo doubt your position is a difficult one. The man who takes such a position runs the risk of being held liable. The man who held the position of publisher was merely a subordinate of yours. I have no doubt that the real offenders in the present case are not here, and whether they will be found in New Zealand at a later day or not I cannot say. I must, however, inflict wme punishment, which will not merely punish you, but which will indicate that offences of this kind will be dealt with severely." His Honour added that in any future cases of the kind the oftenders would be dealt with very severely. "As to the matter that was complained of in this case," his Honour continued, "I have never read or seen anything in any publication so purposelessly obscene as this. Very often there is some kind of cause for publishing obscene matter — it is sometimes regarded as having some ulterior purpose — but in this case there was nothing of th© kind. It was obscenity pure and simple." After alluding to the evidence given by Mr. Ryan, his Honour said he in-

tended to impose a very light sentence. He intended lo regard the two months which bad passed since the date of th» conviction as part of th«t sentence, not merely because the law treated it as snch, but bevaiue his Honour apprn ciated the. fact that prisoner had suffered daring that time. "You will be sentenced," his Honour concluded," to four months' imprisonment, without hard labour, in appreciation of your character. To that sentfnee I add a fine of £50. J shall mak« a recommendation to have you medically examined as to your health."