OFFER OF INDEMNITY ALLEGED

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 40, 17 February 1941, Page 9

OFFER OF INDEMNITY ALLEGED

DENIED BY SOLICITORGENERAL

"FRIENDLY ADVICE"

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

CHRISTCHURCH, This Day,

Because he was a son of a Supreme Court Judge the SolicitorGeneral, Mr. H. H. Cornish, K.C., did not wish to prosecute him and offered him a way out, declared Harold Alexander Ostler, addressing the jury in the Supreme "Court in his own defence to charges of subversive activities. Ostler was later found guilty, and the case was adjourned till today. A denial that Ostler had had from him any offer of privileged treatment was contained in a statement made by the Solicitor-General, which the Crown Prosecutor, Mr. A. T. Don--nelly, read when the case was resumed this morning for consideration of points raised on appeal by' Ostler. The Solicitor-General's statement admitted that he met Ostler in Christchurch to have a friendly talk as he had known the young man from the time he was a boy. Mr. Cornish declared that he acted purely in a private capacity and as a friend and tried to persuade Ostler to a different way of thinking on general affairs, especially in relation to the war.

Ostler declared in his address to the jury that he need not have stood Ms trial. The Solicitor-General wrote and asked him to meet him at the railway station when Mr. Cornish was arriving from Dunedin. They went to the Canterbury -Club where, in a private room, Mr. Cornish told him that the Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice, and himself were willing to drop the prosecution, but certain people were talking and it was going to be almost impossible to avoid it.

"I asked if those who were talking or pressing for the prosecution were those members of Cabinet whom my father, Mr. Justice Ostler, prosecuted during the last war," continued Ostler* "Mr. Cornish avoided answering, that question, but suggested that the best way for me to avoid prosecution was to join the Army. Volun- • tary enlistment in the Army had then ceased, but Mr. Cornish told me that the Government would put me in, and even place me in a nice, safe, and comfortable, job. It was offering me a pardon or indemnity if I joined up, though the Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, has condemned such illegal in- j demnities very strongly. "The same offer was not made to Christie. Whether I chose to sink or swim Christie must sink because he was secretary of the Communist Party for Canterbury and the West Coast, and he had no high-class connections or influential friends, but I was a son of Sir Hubert Ostler, Judge of the High Court of Appeal. I tell you this to show you that in practice there is one law for the poor and another for persons with friends in high places. I was a son of a Supreme Court Judge." COMMENT FROM BENCH. Referring in.hissumming up to these statements by • Ostler, Mr. Justice Northcroft said that the Court had been treated to certain assertions against persons in high places, but they were not given on oath and the Court .had no means of ascertaining whether they were true or untrue. In either case they should have no bearing on the jury|s decision. "I think it may not be improper for me to say that they were made not by a man who wanted you to believe them, but by a man prepared to exalt, himself by dragging his father's name unnecessarily and gratuitously into these proceedings," added the Judge. "I do not say this to prejudice you against Ostler. You will remember that I warned him earlier when he made gratuitous reference to his father of the danger ■he was running of pre-i judicing himself, but whether he is a desirable or undesirable person has 10 bearing on whether he is guilty or ot." • MR. CORNISH'S STATEMENT. "I wish to make an application arising om the statement about an interview ith the Solicitor-General," said the .'rown Prosecutor after Mr. Justice Ibrthcroft had dealt with Ostler's ap)eal this morning. "Ostler's statement vill be published today, and a copy las been submitted to the Solicitorgeneral. The ' Solicitors-General has ;upplied me with his account of the nterview, and I ask for permission to •cad his statement so that it will be •cad in the same.place and have the • ame publication as Ostler's statement." Mr. Donnelly read the statement, which was as follows: "H. A. Ostler's statement that he had from me, acting with the approval of the Prime Minister and of the Attor-ney-General, any offer of privileged treatment is untrue. (1) I did not have at any time, either from the Prime Minister or the Attorney-Gene-ral, any authority, either express or implied, to stop or delay . proceedings against Ostler /or even to discuss with him the possibility of any such course being followed on any > condition or conditions whatsoever. (2). I did not hold myself out to Ostler as having any such authority. (3) I did not tell Ostler that either the Prime Minister or the Attorney-General was willing to drop the prosecution against him. (4) I did not suggest to Ostler 'that the best way for him to avoid prosecution was to join the Army,' nor did I promise him that if he did so he would be given 'a nice, safe, and comfortable job.' (5) It is true I did see Ostler in Christchurch towards the end of last year. The facts which explain how I came to do so are briefly these:

"He had been known to me ever since he. was a boy. I knew him first as a pupil at the school of which I had once been headmaster and in which for various reasons I had continued to take especial interest. Later on I followed with interest his college career, which was an excellent one, both in study and in sport, and which gave a promise of future usefulness . and distinction. Subsequently I knew that he had gone to England and there received training in the Royal Air Force. It was, therefore, a matter of regret for me to learn that a young man of such ability and attainments was following a of conduct, which must, if persisted in, lead to his own unhappiness as well as the hurt of the community, so I decided entirely on my own responsibility and without reference to the Prime Minister or the Attorney-Gene-ral or anyone else to have a friendly talk with him next time I passed through Christchurch. I hoped such a talk from a much older man whose good will he could not question might perhaps induce him to break away from subversive associations. MEETING IN CHRISTCHURCH. "At my meeting with Ostler, in order to avoid raising any false hopes in his mind, I made it clear to him that I was acting in purely a private capacity and as a friend. I told him also that I

could make no promises in respect of what had already happened or any action which might be taken in consequence of it.

"In the course of our conversation I tried to persuade him to a different way of thinking on general affairs, especially in relation to the war. I also asked him to consider whether it would not be a right, as well as a wise, course for him with his advantages and.future prospects to put aside all his doubts in time of a national crisis and by joining up take an action which would help his country. I expressed my belief that this would do much to show repudiation by him of any disloyal intention, and I .added that this would be a circumstance which the Court might properly take into consideration."