THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1949. VARIABLE WINDS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27196, 27 September 1949, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1949. VARIABLE WINDS

With less than four weeks remaining of the session, if it is not extended beyond October 21, Parliament has yet shown no signs of quickening its pace to anticipate what seems to be the inevitable final hectic rush. When, on September 7, Mr Fraser informed the House that there were twenty-seven Bills yet to be introduced, it might have been expected that this would be taken as a spur to members of both parties to concentrate on business. The expectation has not been fulfilled. Indeed, there is very little to show in the way of actual achievement since that date. The Prime Minister also stated then that he hoped to introduce the Gaming Amendment Bill and the Military Training Bill between September 12 and 16, and, towards the end of that period, he had to announce that these important measures might make their appearance the following week. The Military Training Bill was brought forward but it was promptly passed on to the Statutes Revision Committee, whence it has not yet emerged. The Prime Minister’s statement on this occasion was, in effect, another intimation that time was running short. He said that he had hoped to have the Defence Act repealed before the end of the session, but this could not be done unless the Army Bill which had been prepared was passed, and that would now have to be held over till next session.

How, then, has the time been spent? The Budget debate, which was commenced on August 23, was Carried on until September 9, and it was succeeded by consideration of the Estimates, another traditional set piece on the parliamentary calendar. The Land and Income Tax (Annual) Bill was introduced and passed with remarkable speed, even though it was a formality, but this was a singular event. The rabbit nuisance, testamentary promises, co-operative dairies, and a loan for the Lyttelton Harbdur Board were other subjects brought under legislative consideration. This last Bill, which concerns the financing of a new hall for the waterside workers at Lyttelton, produced A storm of criticism from the Opposition. In this debate and in the discussion of the Estimates it was made very clear what the temper of the House was. Members of both parties were becoming more and more oppressively aware of the approaching trial by ordeal at the elections, and they were concerned less with legislation than with attempting to score points off their opponents. A number of speakers took advantage of the opportunities afforded under the discussion of the Estimates to do a little pre-election campaigning by advancing local claims for various works. The delayed discussion of the “ Satchel Case” proved to be lengthy, not primarily because of Mr Holland’s no-confidence motion, but because of the Government’s failure to face the issues involved. Much the same can be said of the time spent in arguing about the appointment of an alleged Communist as a justice of the peace. It would appear safe to suggest that the majority of the measures listed by Mr Fraser three weeks ago will not now be brought forward this session—and if the House persists in its present frame of mind, this is probably just as well.

TRIALS AND CONFESSIONS The verdict in the trial of Laszlo Rajk, the former Hungarian Foreign Minister, and his associates, on charges, of treason and espionage, was predictable and ordained. Behind the iron curtain there has never yet been staged a trial in which the defendants have received sentences other than those which the courts, have prepared in advance. It is, indeed, farcical to dignify these courtroom performances as trials in the Western meaning of judicial procedure, for the “people’s” courts have never been required to do more than pass sentence on accused persons who are not permitted to appear before a judge unless they are accompanied by full confessions of their crimes This extraordinary eagerness of defendants to confess their guilt, and even elaborate on their real or supposed crimes, has been the consistent feature of trials in the Soviet manner. It represents a technique that was perfected by the secret police in the now notorious Moscow trials that astounded the world from 1936 to 1939, and is proving equally efficient in its exported form. The trials of Cardinal Mindszcnty, the Protestant pastors in Bulgaria, and now the former members of the Hungarian Government repeat a pattern of confessions and selfdenunciations which is patently the outcome of a process of preconditioning more subtle, but more effective, than the terrors of the Inquisition.

Many speculations have been made by Western writers and scientists on the particular methods of coercion or persuasion that have been employed to obtain these ex r tremely convenient and self-con-demnatory confessions. It has even been suggested that drugs have been responsible for the peculiar pliancy of the defendants in the hands of their official interrogators, and the unanimity with which, as in the Hungarian trial, their confessions are expressed to provide propaganda suitable to the needs of the Soviet at the moment." A writer in the Chatham House review, The World To-day, recently presented' a critical examination of the technique of Soviet interrogation, and it was his conclusion that drugs are not necessary in the Russian method of preparing an accused for trial. The technique, as explained by persons who have escaped from Russia, is that of inducing unendurable physical and mental distress. Lights bum in the prisoner’s eyes, but he is not allowed to sleep; food is given him, but only enough to remind him of his constant hunger; he is given a blanket, but it provides only enough warmth to keep

him alive; and day after day he is subjected to relentless questioning in which promises are alternated with threats. The prisoner is but a human being. Perhaps, like that formidable Communist, Bukharin, he might hold out for as long as a year, but sooner or later even the strongest man must break. The confession he signs is presented in court as proof of his crime, and there is in him no spirit and no desire to challenge it. Death, to him, is preferable to further torment in a prison where men’s souls are tortured to serve a political purpose.