FINED £2O.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 881, 6 December 1916, Page 10

FINED £2O.

A DISLOYAL STATEMENT. BREACH OF WAR REGULATIONS. A great deal of interest was evinced in a case at the Lyttelton Mag- .. istrate's Court this morning when j Charles Ansel! appeared before Mr J H. W. Bishop, S.M., on a charge that H on November 7 at Lyttelton he made > ' ■! a statement indicating disloyalty in "; respect of Hie present war, to wit: n "I won't fight. I won't fight for my vjwife and children. Every sixpence s,' spenl in making a bullet for the destruction of humanity is a waste of . monev. The Germans have given us all we want and will give us c more." i- The defendant pleaded not guilty, r Sergeant Jackson prosecuted and .. Mr Cassidy appeared for the defene dant. , I Constable Lloyd said that he was s |on duty at the meeting on the night : "jin question. Mr Isilt was speaking -1 and the defendant was standing in n I front of the meeting. When the if 1 speaker touched on the Dominion's 11 annual expenditure for liquor the it the defendant interjected and made n the statement that every sixpence s. spent on bullets for the destruction i e of humanity was a waste of money. I- He also said that the Germans had e given us more than we wanted and n we would get more yet. The peoe pie were asked !o sing the National (-Anthem and when they did the dedjfendant, Ansell, did not remove his dj hat. Someone took it off but he den I liberately placed it on again i- Frederick Postgate stated that in ). an argument after the meeting the •s defendant had told him he had I- served in the Navy, but he would not | join again, and he would not fight it | now if he was of eligible age. The 1- defendant also said that there could y be no greater waste of money than n in the supply of bullets to kill people. Claude Ferrier, a justice of the >* peace, said that he went to the meet- > r ing about 8.30 p.m., and heard the ;r defendant interjecting. He distinctly heard him say that "the Germans I had given us all we wanted, and would give us a d sight more V yet." l " Mr Cassidy said that the defend- " ant was a married man with two 8 children, and he was contributing e towards the support of his brother's ,s four children in England, his brother § being a prisoner of war in Germany. ' e He had other brothers serving, and had served fifteen years in the Navy ') receiving really good discharges d from every ship. He had arrived )_ at the meeting after it had started, '" and had come from a race meeting, d and when the people had crowded around him after the meeting he had y probably said something that he did d not mean." n The defendant in evidence said 'c that he had two brothers in the d Navy, one a prisoner of war in Ger'o many, one in hospital, and one going II to the firing line. When witness ' r arrived at the meeting Mr Isitt was ;s talking on war-time economy not •y recruiting, and the only time he a spoke was when he asked the speaker if he did not think that r_ every sixpence spent on munitions r " was a waste just as much as that !S » spent on beer. He asked the queso- Uon from an economical point of es view. Witness denied that he had made any statement about fighting id for his family. IL The Sergeant: Then these witt*y nesses are telling lies? Witness: They are mistaken. *ej Mr Bishop: Do you deny that w r hat i Mr Ferrier said was true.

Witness: Yes. The Magistrate: Of course. You can stand down. Wm. Radcliffe (Mayor of Lyttelton) gave evidence as to the interjections made at the meeting. Ernest Langey, president of the Waterside Workers' Union, said that lie had known the defendant for about live years, and had always found him a quiet, respectable man, who never seemed to have any trouble with anybody. The Magistrate said that the regulations were aimed at persons who, by act or deed, showed disloyalty to the Empire. The primary object of the country and of every decent man was to win the war. lie disbelieved the defendant totally, and thought that he had lied, and lied abominably. "You say you are an Englishman?" the Magistrate asked defendant, who replied in the affirmative. "Well, so am I, and I am ashamed of you. The penally was £IOO fine or three months imprisonment. He did not wish to send the defendant to gaol, but would hue him £2O and costs."