“SAW THE GESTAPO”

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 22659, 12 July 1945, Page 6

“SAW THE GESTAPO”

INCIDENT IN HAURAKI STORY TOLD IN PARLIAMENT CBy Telegraph.—Special to Times) WELLINGTON, Thursday “I have seen the Gestapo; he was in my electorate,” said Mr A. S. Sutherland (Opposition—Hauraki) in his Address-in-Reply speech in the House of Representatives last night. The remark immediately caught the attention of all members, and to an undercurrent of chuckles, Mr Sutherland told his experience in a diverting fashion. Mr Sutherland said there had been a good deal of talk during the debate about Gestapo methods in New Zealand, and the High Commissioner in London, Mr W. J. Jordan, had been quoted as having denied such methods, but Mr Jordan had been away from the Dominion for a long time and did not know what was going on. “ I have seen the Gestapo,” Mr Sutherland added. “He was in my electorate.” The Speaker, the Hon. F. W. Schramm: The honourable gentleman is not talking about a member of this house ? Mr Sutherland: Oh, no. I’ve seen the Gestapo, I’ve heard him speak, I’ve heard him come and I’ve hea*-l him go. (Laughter). Intruder At Victory Ball Mr Sutherland said he and his wife had been invited to a Victory ball. It was a very good show, with about 500 people present. There were returned men of the last war, decorated airmen from the present war and repatriated prisoners of war. At 10.30 “ the Gestapo ” knocked at the door and after a lot of argument with the committee had been allowed in. He was anxious to see what was on the supper table. “ He went to the supper room and I followed him in,” Mr Sutherland continued. “He told the committee to take certain things off the supper table. He looked like the Gestapo. He did a lot of writing in his book and then he went away.” This had happened in a district where war loan quotas were always filled and which had sent hundreds of young men into the services. Where was freedom, he asked, when a man could barge into a Victory ball held to celebrate victory in Europe and demand to see what was on the supper table ?