THE NEW GUARD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21647, 18 May 1932, Page 11

THE NEW GUARD

REVELATIONS IN SYDNEY FASCIST LEGION BLACK HOODS AND GOWNS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, May 12. Some remarkable revelations concernin'; that strange New South Wales organisation, the New Guard, were made in the Central Police Court on Monday, when eight men were charged with having assaulted John Smith Garden, secretary of the Trades Hall Council. The assault took place in the early hours of Saturday morning last, and as the number of the car used by the raiders was taken the police were quickly on the trail. Great interest was taken in the proceedings because of the rumours that the men arrested belonged to the New Guard. The justification for these rumours became apparent when one of the_ defendants made an amazing statement in which he said he was a member of the Fascist Legion of the New Guard. The legion had 52 members, who were known to one another "bv numbers only. All had been issued with black hoods and gowns. The men who were charged included a company director and a company manager besides a commercial traveller and a salesman. The others were tradesmen, giving still another indication of the wide appeal of the New Guard, which has been formed, so it is said, to assist the police should they lose control of the situation. It is certain that the organisation will lose a great deal of the public sympathy it now possesses if it repeats the tactics employed during the raid on Mr Garden. The raiders called at Mr Garden’s home at 2 a.m. and represented that they were members of the Police Force, and as soon as Mr Garden and his family had been aroused the attack was commenced. The firm decision of the magistrate in sending the men to gaol for three months without the option of a fine gave a grave warning to the New Guard that "basher tactics would on no account be tolerated. The most sensational disclosures of the methods and plans of the New Guard were made by a young motor mechanic, William S. Scott, who said he had been a member for about 11 months. He said that when he arrived home on May 5 he found that a note for him had been pushed under the door. It read: Go to car (or pick up car) at the corner of Underwood and William streets between 11 and half past.” The note was written in pencil, and wap not signed. It waswritten on portion of a piece of foolscap paper. After he read the note he tore it up and threw it away. He knew the note was from the New Guard because he would not get a similar note from anybody else. He had received similar notes, and they had been from the New Guard. On each occasion he' had carried out the instructions, which were usually connected with transport. . ... „„ Scott said that he went to the appointed spot and found a car waiting tor him. There were four others in the car, and he did not utter a word to any of them. He had never seen them before. The car was driven to a house at Maroubra, and the driver sai4 to him and the other men “ this job is Communists. Your job is to quieten the dog. The di iver remained in the car and the others 8° r out. Scott had a tyre lever about lo inches long, which had been given to him bv one of the occupants of the car, and he was told that if the dog made a noise he was to strike him with that. Tie saw a disturbance at the house and latei the dog was set on to him. The dog bit him on the right hand. Scott said that somebody then grabbed hold of him and took the tyre lever, after which he received a blow on the left wrist. He was taken into the bouse and did not know then that it was Mr Garden s home. The reason he kept the appointment was that he considered that he was obeying an order from the New Guard Of lcott said that a black gown with hooded mask found in his room was his own property. He had had it for about three mouths, and it was given to him by the New Guard. He would not say which member gave it to him. As tar as he knew there were about 62 of those gowns supplied to members of the New Guard. '‘Those 62 members belonged.to what was known as the Fascists Legion of the New Guard. He did not know any of their names. They were all known by numbers, and they had to do special jobs for the intelligence branch, and put in reports to headquarters. Tn °t m other men charged made statements that they were members of the Fascists Legion, and all admitted their association with the New Guard. Under cross-examination, Garden said he was not a Communist. He had been once, but now the Communists would treat him just as the New Guard had treated him. He would be hammered up bv both. He admitted that he had expressed himself very strongly on certain matters regarding the Government, and that he believed in the mass of the people governing the people. There was a strong difference of opinion between Ins views and those held by the New Guard, but he did not go to the home of the leader of the New Guard and beat him up. After the cases had been disposed ot tlie Loader of the New Guard, Mr Eric Campbell said he wished to make it perfectly clear that the Fascist tactics were not part of the policy of the New Guard. Ho also said that he regarded the whole of the Garden incident with the utmost suspicion. The talk about black hoods being issued to a selected few was utter nonsense. The dramatic raid on the offices of the New Guard was quite unjustified, and so was the detention of the secretary for five hours as though he were a criminal, The secretary was arrested at his home, and when the police failed to produce a warrant he threatened to resist. He was then told that if he did so he would be dragged to the station, so he decided to go quietly. He was held tor a while, but was released when no charge could be laid against him. It was clear that the police were endeavouring to harass the New Guard in every possib e way. The headquarters of the Friends of the Soviet Union were alongside the police station, and every day they sang the “Red Flag” until they nearly lifted off the roof. That body was openly revolutionary, yet its members were allowed to go unmolested. There - were murderers wandering at large in Sydney, yet the leading detectives were employed in harassing the only organisation that was a bulwark against Sovietism, and which treasured the British tradition. As was inevitable the activities ot the New Guard received mention in the Federal Parliament, where it was suggested that the latest discoveries by the police wore the result, of a political frameup ” The Prime Minister (Mr Lyons) said that he was having full inquiries particularly in regard to the allegations that there already existed a Fascist Legion.