SEDITION AT BREAKFAST.

Western Star, 20 March 1917, Page 3

SEDITION AT BREAKFAST.

AUCKLAND, March 15. At the Pukekohe Police Court Rafo Antonovich, aged 31, a native of Dalmatia, was charged with having made a disloyal and seditious statement in the hearing of his family. This is the first case of the kind heard in the Dominion. The words used were: “The Kaiser is a great man, and I take off my hat to him. The British are the biggest mugs I ever saw. My brothers are giving you a good licking now. Kitchener was the biggest mug I ever saw. He would not have held a candle, to the Kaiser. _ The Kaiser is a second Napoleon. He is the cleverest man ever born. The first thing 1 will do when Germany wins the war is to kick your . I would sell my secrets to Germany. Why should Ibe naturalised and fight for the —— British.” The police stated that accused had only been in the district a few months, and" posed as a naturalised Dalmatian, but there was reason to believe he was not naturalised. Accused’s mother-in-law, Amelia Turnbull, gave evidence that accused made the statements at the breakfast table iu the presence of his wife and herself. Counsel for accused submitted that the case was only a family quarrel, and the regulations were never intended to pry into a private house. Accused denied making the statement. The Magistrate, in imposing twelve months’ imprisonment, said lie would place the facts before the Minister for him to decide whether-internment should bo substituted for imprisonment.