THE DUERKOP CASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15823, 21 January 1915, Page 6

THE DUERKOP CASE.

ALLEGED ILLEGAL ACT.

TRYING TO SUPPLY ENEMY

COMMITTED FOR TRIAL. £BT rH.EORAPH.-OWS CORRESPONDENT.] 'iVEixiNGTON, Wednesday. The hearing of the case in which Henrick Wilhelm Magnus Duerkop, of the firm of Dnerkop and Mackay, of Auckland, was charged with having traded with a firm in an ensmv's country, was concluded in the Magistrate's Court to-day. There were five charges against Duerkop of supplying or attempting to supply certain consignments to Gwtav J. J. Witt, of Rotterdam, knowing they were destined for Germany. Mr. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., was or. the Bench, Mr. H. H. Ostler appeared for the Crown and Mr. T. Neave for the accused. Mr. Ostler, in continuing his crossexamination of accused which waj commenced on Monday, asked, as accused had written to another European firm, stating that ho could not send goods to Rotterdam as it was illegal, why ho did rot write the same to Witt. Accused replied that he did not think it necessary as Witt knew already that the goods were on their way to Rotterdam. " A Slip of the Pen." Mr. Ostler produced a letter written to Wist, in which Duerkop referred to the Seydlitz consignment in the following tonus:— "After the final sale of the Seydlitz cargo on its final arrival in Hamburg.etc." "If you did not know that the goods were to finally arrive at Hamburg," said Mr, Ostler referring to this. " how do you account for the words 'on their final arrival at Hamburg?' Accused : It was 4 mistake. The Magistrate: A si'p of the pen? Accused : A slip of the pen, yes Mr. Ostler quoted further from the same communication and asked: Do you seriously repeat what you said at the previous hearing, that after hearing the contents of this letter you did not intend the goods to ultimately arrive in Germany? Accused: It was not my special intention that they should go to Germany. Mr. Ostler: That is not answering tho question. Accused: It never occurred to me that the goods would reach Hamburg. To Mr. Neave: Accused said that the private letters to Witt just read by Mr. Ostler were written purely with an intention to secure help from Witt in respect to the Rotterdam firm. " I believe Witt was there at the time," said accused. Another Letter From Accused. Mr. Neavo read a letter written by Duerkop 10 days after the outbreak of war to a person in New Zealand interested in Ducrkop's firm. '' An Order-in-Council," stated the letter, " prohibits anyone doing any commercial transaction whatever for or with and on behalf of the enemy. All kinds of legal difficulties have arisen, and we are now spending much of our time with lawyers to ward off responsibilities for purchasing contents made here before the war with sellers who insist upon us taking delivery, whilst we have lost our markets, as the London outlets for our goods, which are not foodstuffs and consequently do not profit by an increased demand, have also partly been upset through Continental tenners having to close down. The English markets are no good to us either, and may remain unsatisfactory for some time to come. Meanwhile we are using any spare time to find contracts in America."

"This shows a clear recognition," commented Mr. Neave, "that Duerkop realised that all trade with Germany had ceased." Accused added that he had not written a single line to Hamburg with a view to getting his goods there. Arguments lor the Defence. This concluded the evidence, and after it had been read to accused, Mr. Neave contended that there was not sufficient in it to warrant accused being sent to the Supreme Court for trial. One of the functions of a magistrate in this respect was to see that the charge was a wellfounded one before committing for trial, and this was not such a charge. The whole thing was narrowed down to this : Did the magistrate believe what Duerkop had said in bis evidence ? If he did, then Duerkop should not go to the higher Court. Counsel stressed the honesty of defendant in voluntarily laying open to the Crown his private letters. The Crown had closed its case when Duerkop had volunteered this information about his private letter. This act was on a par with the whole of defendant's conduct, which was one of unimpeachable honesty. The Crown had attained its objective by the publicity given to this case. He did not criticise the Crown for taking the action, but now that there had been a searching and thorough inquiry, which had disclosed nothing illegal, the case should be dismissed. Prima Facie Case Established. The magistrate said that he was of the opinion the defendant had given his evidence very honestly. But there is one thing, and I think it is the point," said Mr. Cooper, "and that is, whether defendant knew that the casings he shipped to this Dutch firm would go to Germany. He knew that the capital and the manager of the company were German, and I cannot help thinking that he knew that these casings shipped would have gone on to Germany. lam certain that he consulted Mr. Algie, and that he thought he would be doing all right by sending them to Rotterdam. However, there is a prima facie case that he was trading with a firm that was really a branch of an enemy's firm. It is not for me to make any comment on the case, but that, brieflv, is mv decision."

Duerkop, who tl.<m entered a plea of not guilty, was committed to the Supreme Court for trial. On the application of Mr. Neave, bail was allowed as before.

Duerkop then left for Somes Island in the company of his guard.