The Home Secretary in the House of Commons on Thursday,
June 2nd, moved that the regulations under the Emergency Powers Act should continue in force. The Labour Party objected on the ground that " sedition " might be variously interpreted and might mean little or nothing. Mr. Clyne remarked that " to hold Communist views, to his mind, was to commit an offence not so great as to hold Tory views," and suggested that the Government's foreign policy was pro- moting Bolshevism. The Home Secretary disposed of these fine-spun arguments by telling the House what had been said by the persons prosecuted for sedition. Some had advised men of the Reserves and the Defence Force to turn and shoot their own officers. Others had incited crowds of unemployed to riot, saying " What is the good of the ballot ? To hell with the ballot ; back to the bomb ! " We should be the last to undervalue the right of free speech. But a citizen's rights are limited by his duties, and no one even here, in the freest country in the world, is entitled to advocate mutiny and murder. If Mr. Clyne were Home Secretary, he would do what Mr. Shortt has done.
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