The Hawera Star. FRIDAY, JULY 10, 1925. THE CASE OF NOEL LYONS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 10 July 1925, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 1925. THE CASE OF NOEL LYONS.

Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock -o Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Alton, Hurleyvi , Patea, Waverley, Mokoia, Wiiakamara, Ohan*ai. Meremere, Fraser Road, an Ararata.

. . . The vitriolic lash of the law, which, has Hogged into durance vile an honest man, is typically characteristic of the capitalistic spleen; and the much-vaunted phrase ‘British lair-play and justice’ has been prostituted beyond all recognition. ...” And much more in a like tone. Who? How i When? Where? Why? A waterside workers’ union; somewhat annoyed; yesterday; in Dunedin; because a gentleman by the name of Lyonvs, having refused to comply with an order directing him to leave the country, lias been sentenced to nine months imprisonment. It is typical, ol a watersidera’ union that, when it begins to feel angry, it breaks out all over in big words, just as a child may with eczema. In this ca.se the rash is not yet, at ibs best; but it promises well/ “The vitriolic lash of the law” is a tip-top phrase for stretching the jaws—try .saying it before a mirror and “Hogging” a man “into durance vile” is so much more terrible than .sending him to gaol. it is considered a good touch, too, to heap epithets upon such a bulwark of the realm as British fair-play and justice. Indeed, all that require to be added to the Dunedin resolution to make it a really classical fragment are a couple of “exploitations,” a “grinding” of the working classes beneath the “iron heel of oppression,” three or four “in the last analyses” and a .sprinkling c>f forced references to the solidarity of the Labour movement. “Comrade” Noel Lyons, whose passive resistance to the deportation order is underneath this great pyramid of words, is in prison, nob because he tried “to improve the standard of life for the men serving in the mercantile marine, but. “in the last analysis,” because his activities in New Zealand were calculated to be a menace, to the public peace, and because legislation passed in 1919 empowers the authorities to deport any newcomer or casual visitor of such a character. Wholly without vitriol, and wholly without lash, the law by its normal working has landed Lyons in gaol. The law may be wrong; but in that case it is the law itself, not its administration, which should be attacked; and the place to deliver the attack is in the Legislature. In time of peace it is not right to deny to any r man the right of trial, and we question the wisdom of the clause under which the order of deportation Was made by the Attorney-General. There can be little doubt that any ordinary, fair-minded jury, on the evideneo which could have been placed before it, would have found Lyons guilty of anti-social .practices; hut It would be more satisfactory to all concerned if »tho responsibility for such decision rested on a jury rather than on the Attorney-General. At the same time it is not to be thought that this would satisfy the D"nedin wotersiders What they want is that Lyorvs should he released, to continue the preaching of his Communist doctrines and to point ms the way to economic salvation He will not be released, because it is not tlie will of the people that lie .should he. Therefore we may expect a further outbreak of big words on the wharves. If, occasionally, one of them be found to fit into the solution of a cross-word puzzle, the country may not mind; and Mr. Lyons will have a little further leisure to ponder over problems of bacon and eggs