ALLEGED SPIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24297, 14 May 1940, Page 6

ALLEGED SPIES

AN AUCKLAND CONTENTION ASSURANCE BY MINISTER INTERNMENT IF FOUND (Per United Press Association) AUCKLAND, May 13. "Anyone whq interferes with the Government in the prosecution of the war v/ill not be allowed his liberty," said the Minister of Finance (Mr W. Nash), amid cheers and applause, when replying to questions concerning alleged German spies in New Zealand, at a meeting which he addressed tonight in support of Mr P. Carr, the official Labour Party candidate in the Auckland West by-election. Mr Nash was speaking of the- war aim s of the Germans and their efforts to dominate the world, when he was interrupted by an interjector, who asked: " Why don't you intern the ones who are here? " The Minister said that some had already been interned, and any known Nazi sympathiser would be put in a place where he could do no harm. He mentioned, however, that there were some difficulties because some people of German birth were not Nazi sympathisers. On the contrary, they had fled from Herr Hitler—from Germany into Austria, from Austria to Czechoslovakia, and from Czechoslovakia to Poland before going to England, and eventually coming to New Zealand. "We are not going to trample on the ideas we are fighting to defend," he added. A voice: They are doing it here. The Minister: As soon as we find any interference we wfll stop them. The voice: It will be too late. Mr Nash replied that any persons who knew of another spying and neglected to inform the authorities was himself a traitor. ~, '