MYSTERY MAN

Waipa Post, Volume 49, Issue 3554, 6 December 1934, Page 7

MYSTERY MAN

GRIFFIN’S MOVEMENTS. THE CASE OF KISCH. Sydney, November 22. Gerald Griffin, the New Zealander who is supposed to have re-entered Australia after his deportation as a prohibited immigrant, has become known si the “mystery man.” While special officers of the Federal Government have been searching for him far and wide he has appeared unexpectedly at meetings in Newcastle, Melbourne, and Sydney, and every time he has eluded capture. In the circumstances there is some justification foi the doubt that has been expressed in official circles as to whether all the reports that have been made are true. In certain official quarters it is stated that there is not real proof that Griffin did return to Australia. Whatever may be the facts of the r it is certain that the Anti-War Society with which Griffin is associated, has succeeeded in greatly embarrassing the Federal Government, which has been made a laughing stock by some. A further claim was made on Saturday morning last that Griffin was still in Sydney and that he would appear very soon at a public meeting that was being arranged to protest against the attempt to exclude the Czechoslovakian journalist and author, Herr Egon Kisch. Then, like a bolt from the blue, came the report that Griffin had attended a meeting of the Northern Miners’ delegates at Newcastle on Saturday morning. It was said that he spoke to the delegates, who held a meeting at the Newcastle Trades Hall, for 15 minutes, and then disappeared as quietly! as he had come. His friends refused to say where he had gone, but it was currently reported that he left for Sydney by motor car. It was anticipated that he would speak at the Sydney Domain on Sunday, and Federal Officers were in waiting. However, there was no sign of Griffin, who was next reported from Melbourne.

“f am Gerald Griffin.”

It is said that a group of trade union members wer.e discussing the Kisch-Griffin cases over a glass of beer in a Melbourne hotel on Monday afternoon when a quietly-spoken man came up to them . and said: “I am Gerald Griffin.” He assured them tha£ he was secretary of the AntiWar Movement in New Zealand, and that he intended to spend some time in touring Victoria. He would speak at all the main centres of the State, and he did not think he had much to fear from- the police or the Commonwealth officials. He said that the Federal Attorney-General was confusing him with another Griffin who had visited the Soviet Union. Hfe explained that he had been rushed from Newcastle to Sydney by motor car on Saturday, and on Saturday evening he caught the Melbourne express.

The case of Kisch, whom the Federal authorities desired to exclude from Australia, is somewhat different to that of Griffin, but not less embarrassing to the Government. By order of the High Court Kisch was discharged from the custody of the master of the liner which brought him to Australia, but he was immediately arrested on a charge of being a prohibited immigrant. Kisch failed to pass a dictation test, but when he was taken before the Magistrate his counsel succeeded in securing an adjournment of the case for a week. The Magistrate also allowed bail. In these circumstances Kisch was able to speak at the Domain on Sunday, and it is even suggested that this week he will go to Melbourne to attend a conference of the Anti-War Society—the original object of his visit to Australia. The Federal authorities believed that the immigrant laws were all-powerful, but these developments have shown that this is not so. “We must retain the absolute right to prevent the landing in Australia of anyone who we regard as undesirable,” said one of the Ministers. ‘The position is an extraordinary one. The Government declares that Kisch may hot land, and a Magistrate at a police court says he can. Such a situation cannot be tolerated.”