TOLD IN CONFIDENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20918, 7 January 1930, Page 7

TOLD IN CONFIDENCE

INFORMATION FOR REPORTER. REFUSAL TO DISCLOSE SOURCE. (United Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) CAPETOWN, January 5. The Rand Daily Mail described the drawing of a lotery in a' Johannesburg hotel a few weeks ago. The Minister of Justice, under the Police Administration Act, ordered an inquiry, to which the editor of the Mail and a reporter were summoned to give evidence. The magistrate held the inquiry in camera. The reporter admitted authorship, but refused to disclose the names of those present or the hotel where the lottery was drawn. Ho was warned that refusal involved contempt of court, for which there was a penalty of eight days' imprisonment. The reporter persisted in his attitude, his solicitor arguing that the whole system of journalism would be undermined if the police could insist on journalists revealing sources of information given confidentially. The inquiry was adjourned until Wednesday. The Minister of Justice states that the law must take its course. The annual Congress of Journalists at Bloemfontein pledged moral and financial support in defence of the great principle.*