A QUESTION OF FAIR PLAY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 34, 10 February 1915, Page 2

A QUESTION OF FAIR PLAY

TO TM IDITOII. Sir,— -I would like to call your attention to an act of injustice which hae taken place in the case of Hugo Siwald, the man who, a few months ago, caused a mild ' sensation by having a model wireless plant in his possession. This man, who has seen active service with the colonial forces in, South Africa during the Boer war, was sentenced to one month's imprisonment for a technical breach of the Post and Telegraph Act. His sentence having expifedj he is still held a prisoner in the Terrace Gaol, and told he is a military prisoner. ' Still,, when, this map applied to the military authorities to be -treated as a prisoner of war instead £f a convict, the authorities denied having anything to do with the matter. The' gaol authorities admit having no warrant of committal, and still this unfortunate man has to put up with the same treatment as if he had been sentenced to years of imprisonment for some awful. act against the j law. - The absurdity of the case, as heard in the Magistrate's Court, is really amusing. The model had only a radius of two feet, and as soon as Siwald purchased it he took it straight away to the Defence Office, in the company of an officer of the Area Group, and had arranged an appointment with General Godley for the following Monday, the officer thinking that the model might be used for instructional purposes. He has been away from Germany for twenty-one I years, is married to an Englishwoman, and has two children. Mr. Massey, in the House of Representatives, gave the opinions of experts that the apparatus was purely and simply a model, and of no use for sending or receiving. Sir, I trust that from a humane point of view this matter will be given the prominence due to it, and that this poor unfortunate fellow will be sent to Somes Island, where his wife can visit him and speak to him without an iron grating before her eyes. We hear a lot of talk about fair play, and I'm snre here is a chance to show New Zealand's idea of fair play.— l am, etc., FRED. LAWRENCE. Wellington, 10th February. .'. — \