HE PREACHED POLITICS FROM SHOP WINDOW.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17905, 22 July 1926, Page 8

HE PREACHED POLITICS FROM SHOP WINDOW.

OBSTRUCTED FOOTPATH AND MUST PAY FINE. (Special to the “Star.”) AUCKLAND, July 21. • Harold Schmidt, a local chemist, and a consistent critic of the City Council and the newspapers, was fined to-day for exhibiting notice boards outside his premises and causing obstruction to the Queen Street footpath. Schmidt said the notices were posted within the. bounds of Tiis property, and all were of public interest. Being a candidate in public elections, he considered his shop the best place from which to impart the value of his public sentiments. Political news was just as much a part of his business as the notices outside the. Town Hall, the newspaper offices or the displays in the various business establishments. There was more obstruction caused in other parts of the city. His notices did not seriously affect the pedestrian.traffic. His counsel said the defendant had been exhibiting public pronouncements for a considerable number of years, and they ante-dated any advent of his into public affairs. The placards contained criticisms of municipal politics and undertakings, and the defendant was under the impression that he had some license to do so, if he acted for the public benefit. “ I have had to tell him,” said counsel, “ although he has been rather reluctant to take the advice, that even if the newspapers cause obstruction they* are liable.” Schmidt undertook to remove the notice. He was fined £1 on one charge and ordered to come up for sentence when called upon on another.