A SEDITION CHARGE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 885, 11 December 1916, Page 10

A SEDITION CHARGE.

R, SEMPLE APPREHENDED.

DRAMATIC ARREST IN CHRISTCHURCH.

Just before the time fixed for the commencement of his anti-conscrip-1 tion meeting last evening, Robert ! Semple, the well-known miners' i agent, was arrested and lodged in the ; cells, bail being refused. Sample had intended addressing a meeting under the auspices of the Christehurch ! branch of the Conscription Repeal i League, and a good crowd had turn- j ed up in anticipation of hearing the .speech. I At about 5.30 p.m. Superintendent Dwyer received a telegram from the. police in Auckland asking that Sem-j pie should be arrested on a charge j of using seditious language in a. speech delivered at Auckland last j Sunday night. About 6.30 p.m. the \ Superintendent, accompanied by j Sub-Inspector Muilaney, set out fori Scmple's abode in Manchester Sireet. \ When near the Clock Tower they! met Semple, who submitted quietly ! to arrest. He was at once taken to; the police station in a taxi cab. In the afternoon an address hat" [ been delivered by Semple in Victoria, Square, there being an attendance of j between 100 and 500 people. Mr P. j S. Ramsay, President of the Conscription Repeal League, was the j first speaker. He said he had re- | reived notice that 3000 of the min-1 ers at Greymouth, at'a meeting held | on Saturday, had passed a strong! resolution of protest against the Mili-1 tary Service Act, and urged that an I early session of Parliament should; be called to repeal the measure. Mr Semple argued against conscription on the lines of the Conscription Repeal League's manifesto,, and criticised the Mayor (Mr Hoi-j land)-for having given h>r casting| vote against the motion to allow one of the Christehurch theatres to be used for an evening meeting. The meeting was quiet and orderly, and at the conclusion a resolution similar in terms to that passed by the Greymouth miners was declared carried on a show of hands.

The charge on which Semple has been arrested is, it is understood, for a breach of clause 3 of the War Regulaions of September 26, 1915, which reads: —"No person shall, by word, writing, or otherwise, incite, encourage, advise, or advocate, violence, lawlessness, or disorder or express any seditious intention." The police in Christehurch do not know what are the seditious utterances that Semple is alleged to have made, as the charge will not reach Christchurch from Auckland till to-morrow morning, until which time Semple will not appear in court. It has been stated by some of the arrested man's comrades that the trouble has possibly arisen over some remarks made in reference to the Hon. G. W. Russell.

Semple will appear at the Magistrate's Court to-morrow morning. News of the arrest was speedily conveyed to the assembly in the Socialists' Hall in His Majesty's

Theatre Buildings, Manchester I Street, and ils arrival caused considerable commotion. The meeting was merrily proceeded witu. a curious crowd waiting on the road outside for the overflow meeting. Socialist hoy Scouls, with flaming scarlet jumpers and khaki pants, fluttered about in response to directions issued by a scoutmaster, who was arrayed in all the incongruous glory of a complete khaki outfit. The meeting inside went on in a quiet and orderly manner, the speakers making the most of the arrest of Comrade Sempie, and expressing the most militant of anti-military views. The overflow meeting was quite a ! tame affair. There were probably three or four hundred people on the vacant section on the opposite side of the theatre, and they were not by any means all antis. Of Ihe speeches given by Messrs F. Cooke and I'. S. Ramsay it is only necessary to say that they were exactly what one would expect from Messrs Ramsay and Cooke. The audience of men and women, boys and girls, pressmen, the Superintendent of Police, (he sub-inspector, and quite a shoal of constables and detectives, listened quietly, and Ihe only interruptions were caused by sympathetic applause. A resolution calling for the repeal of Ihe military service Act was carried on Ihe voices, only a few "Noes" being heard, while probably two-thirds of those present did not trouble to vole at all. Till-: SPEECH IN AUCKLAND. Mr Sempie gave an address at the Globe Theatre on the night of Sunday, 3rd hist. According to the "Star's" report Mr Sempie declared his determination lo fight conscription in New Zealand, regardless of consequences. He had been assured in Australia, he said, that what- " ever he did they would be with him, ' morally, financially, in spirit, and in any other way. Alluding lo the , strike of Ihe coal miners in Australia, the speaker stated that they , had got all they asked for for the time being, and they would ask for

something more before long. In the next fight in Australia New Zealand would be cotijded so far as the miners were concerned. It was his intention to visit every miners' union to get them to affiliate with "the Australian Miners' Federation. The next fight would be for six hours. In view of what the miners had done, what could organised labour not do? Every coal miner, he said, had received instructions not to present himself if he were drawn in the ballot. Miners did not want exemption. They would tell Mr Allen to take his bribe back again. People who had hooted the miners were now asking for help, and the miners would see before many weeks how much there was in those people. Let thorn make no mistake about that.