FREEDOM OF SPEECH

NZ Truth, Issue 570, 20 May 1916, Page 8

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Championed by High Court Judge Mr. Justice Higgins Hits Out at Hypocrites . A Jolt for Jaundicad Jingoes (From "Melbourne Truth.")

[ A most refreshing interlude m what la threatening to become an intermlni able torrent or intolerant tirades in-- ! spired by Jaundiced Jingoism, and let ; loose too often by howling hypocrites. I ia supplied by- the discourse on "Freedom of Speech In War Time," delivered • In the Australian CUvcn, Melbourne, » by the learned Judgvt whose name will » ever be associated wttto his common - i sense control of the Federal Arbitration ! Court, Mr. Justice Higgins. The "Age" i headlined the speech "A Remarkable . Utterance," but apparently neither of » the Collins-street cacklers had «uffl--1 ciently recovered from their astonish - ; ment on the following morning to make • any comment on the audacity of his i Honor m championing' a principle that, though at one time deemed one of the i prerogatives of a Britisher, it is now, • alas! deemed expedient to curtail or obi literate. . • •• • ■•• • ■■ ■•'■■■■ - • ■ ■- ■ ■ 1 ' As is well known, any person who at 1 the present time attempts to express an opinion that clashes with the popular clamor is regarded with suspicion, if not as a traitor, and though at a time " like the present there should bo a limit to utterances tending to the seditious, , it Is only too plainly apparent that It . Is desired to taboo hostile criticism of \ any .character. "Our country, right or wrong," is the motto adopted by Jingoistic Jay Pees, who immediately jump with both feet on anyone daring to express himself m such a manner as to rouse the hire of the hoodlums who have been responsible for the disgraceful scenes on Yarra Bank and elsewhere of late. Though it is declared, day In and day out, that the Allies are fighting to exterminate Prussian militarism, such execrable exhibitions as those just referred to are but samples of that j curse. The peculiar part, however, is ; that where soldiers have been the aggressors, the men whom they have mal- i | treated have been the ones penalised m the subsequent Pol Ice Court proceed- i I Ings, Jay Pees perfervidly pronounce In support of "Our country, right* or < wrong," but the learned Judge stigmatises such a phrase as cant, which. In other words, means hypocritical humbug. • • • ; How truly did his Honor remark that the spirit of persecution still lived, though wo prided ourselves on having left behind us persecution for religious opinions and such like matters. What else was It that sent Joe Skurrio to gaol on the evidence of disjointed excerprs of an address published by a newspaper that bellows on the "Our country, right or wrong" tack all the tlm©7 Indeed. Judging by the cabled reports that hay« been received from # time to time of speeches m the Reichstag by Dr. Lelbknecht, It would almost seem as though thore were morft freedom allowed m Germany than there is m Australia. Frank Anstey's outspoken attack on the Wnr Precautions Bill will, It is to bo hoped, long ba remembered by Australian democracy; but such was tho pr«auro brought to bear on the p«ople>'B champion that ho has had to forbear from further criticism of a similar kind In order that ho might not bo prevented from serving his constituent* and tho people of Australia as a whole In other directions. Tho whole thing was summed up by Mr. Justice Hlpgins In tho sentence, "Thor© was a strong temptation to got rid of unpleasantness by stifling free speech." tho mischief bclne done by ihoso m authority mlaguldedly yielding to thai temptation.