DEFENCE AREA CASE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 24032, 1 August 1941, Page 3

DEFENCE AREA CASE

REVIEW BY ALIENS TRIBUNAL NO ULTERIOR MOTIVE (S.H.) WELLINGTON, Thursday The case of Rudolph Hirter, who some time ago was sentenced to 21 days' imprisonment was mentioned by the Minister of Justice, the Hon. H. G. R. Mason, in the House of Representatives to-day. The Minister was replying to a question by Mr. H. 8. S. Kyle (Opposition—Riccarton), who said that Hirter had been found hiding among bushes in a defence area with a pair of powerful field glasses in his possession Mr. Mason said that-since the Court proceedings Hirter's case had been reviewed by the Aliens Tribunal. As the result of its inquiries the tribunal came to the conclusion that there was no reason to suspect Hirter of being of enemy sympathy or of having any tendency to assist the enemy. Tbe tribunal particularly inquired into the matter of Hirter's trespass on a defence reserve and it was satisfied that there was no ulterior motive associated with this incident. The tribunal's report, Mr. Meson continued, disclosed that Hirter was born in Xew Zealand and that his parents also were bora in New Zealand. the father being 71 years of age and his mother of full British blood. The tribunal stated intep-- alia: '"We cannot detect in Hirter ('himself, or in any member of the family, _any trace of interest in Germany, association with local Germans, correspondence with Germans abroad or sympathy with Germany."