SUPREME COURT

Hokitika Guardian, 16 July 1940, Page 5

SUPREME COURT

GUILTY FOR SUBVERSIVE SPEECH

(Per Press Association —Copyright)

WELLINGTON, July 16

After a retirement of a little over a quarter of an hour, the jury in the Supreme Court, found Douglas Murdoch Martin guilty on two charges of making subversive statements in speeches at the Trades Hall on May 19 and at Miramar on May 26th. He was remanded for sentence on Thursday.

Commentig on the freedom of speech the Chief Justice, in summing up, said it was one of the essentials of the democratic system, but there were times when what is called free speech might be very injurious to the safety of the people. It was all very well to talk about freedom of speech, he said to the jury. We are all anxious to guard that freedom, but, as he said to the Grand Jury yesterday, the Empire is at war, and has never been engaged in a war of such dimensions or whore (the consequences, if we fail, would be so serious. After referring to a speech broadcast bv the King in which the King said this war means life and death to us all, Sir M. Myers said we must be careful as far as we can that there are no enemies within our midst.

Sir M. Myers went on to deal with the aspect of the speech of the speech, prejudicing recruiting. If the jury thought the agitation, either intended or not intended, was likely to prejudice recruiting, then he directed that such a statement would be subversive.