THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY. "Public Service.” WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1940. MISCHIEF IN WORDS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 49, Issue 2888, 31 January 1940, Page 4

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY. "Public Service.” WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1940. MISCHIEF IN WORDS

THERE are circumstances in which it may be difficult to differentiate between mischief in deed and mischief in the spoken or written word. What the At-torney-General, Mr Mason, has had to say concerning seditious propaganda within New Zealand applies, fortunately, to the sayings rather than to the actions of minority groups which, for one reason or another, are opposed to the alignment of this country with other parts of the Empire in the conduct of war against aggression in Europe. There has been no serious attempt on the part of Communists or others in the Dominion to convert subversive talk into direct action against the form or direction of the Government’s war effort. It may be assumed, what is more, that no such attempt will now be made, for the good and sufficient reason that discontent on the part of individuals or small groups will not be permitted so to express itself. The Government in its attitude toward those who would abuse the privilege of free speech, has so far shown patience and tolerance in an admirable degree. It possesses powers, in every sense complete, to deal with persons whose peculiar conception of the duties of citizenship threatens to make them more than a nuisance within an otherwise united community, and it is all to the good that Mr Mason has now indicated, beyond the possibility of misunderstanding, that these powers will be invoked without hesitation should the need arise. The Government has been wise in preferring, up to the present time, to withhold its hand against the sponsors of extreme doctrines. Among a people well-balanced, distinctly

! well-informed and not generally incapable of weighing views and reaching sound judgments for themselves, the dissenters from the majority opinion are likely to exercise small influence. It is probably true to say that, with their spurious political and economic theories, they react on the public mind as a minor irritant rather than as anything more baneful. As Mr Mason has commented, in every society there are people who cannot, or will not, enter into genuine spiritual communion with their fellows. Their sense of values is awry, and they are incapable of discovering virtue in a course of action which, to the vast remainder of their fellows, plainly appears to be entirely right and proper. The war effort of New Zealand will not be impeded by such loose and shallow thinking as the Attorney-General has had occasion to expose publicly. We may emphasise that the right of comment, even of it be foolish or mischievous comment, should be respected when there is no reason to suppose that public order is imperilled through the exercise of it. • If, however, such a threat to public order,' or the national well-being, should emerge from the misguided conduct of a few irreconcilables, there are means of imposing a necessary discipline, and enough has been said by Mr Mason to show that the Government will not omit to employ them. PeopTe who confuse licence with the privilege of free utterance, and

persist in shaping their conduct accordingly, must expect the tolerance of those in authority eventually to wear too thin to be maintained. It will be well for all concerned if the warning now given to pseudo-disloyal elements within the Dominion, to place a curb upon their own extravagances and absurdities, is heeded. The Minister has said all that should be necessary in his reminder that neither. the Government nor the people of New Zealand are in the mood to countenance the use—or abuse—of freedom to damage the cause of freedom.