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Vandal Switches
Country Points
A vandal switched rail
way points and damaged
signals at Kimchina, about
five miles on the Adelaide
siae oi Murray Bridge yester
day.
The damage was noticed
at 5.30 p.m. by the driver of
a southbound train.
Railways detectives ha.ve
gone to Kimchina to investi
gate.
Railway authorities have
not discounted the possi
bility that the vandal may
be the same person who set
fire to railway buildings and
switched points in the metro
politan area in the past two
months.
The Railways Commis
sioner's secretary (Mr. C. H.
Pidock) said last night that
the damage would not have
endangered train travellers,
and at worst, the train would
have been diverted to a sid
ing.
.onight whether any of the
-eized documents were
papers which the raiding
parties were expressly
searching for.
All the papers taken
from the various premises
will be examined at the
CIS headquarters in the
city during the next few
days.
Any considered of value
will be immediately referred
to the Federal Attorney
General, who will decide
whether prosecutions, should
be launched.
More than 40 CIS officers
took part in the raids, which
were spread over a wide area
of the city and suburbs.
The premises raided were
;he Australian Communist
Party offices in Market
street and also Sussex street,
city, the Newsletter Printery
it Forest Lodge, an office in
Castlereagh street, city,
Dccupied oy Mr. Rex Chip
lin, the homes of Mr. Adam
Dgston, Fontainbleu street,
Sans Souci, and Mr. H. B.
Dhandler, BannqcKburn
street, Pymble, premises oc
cupied by the Eureka Youth
League of Australia in Mar
feet street, offices of the
'Tribune' newspaper in the
same street, and an un
named- suite of offices in
Bond street.
Planned
The raids were planned
following an article entitled
'Democratic Monarchy,'
which appeared in the June
issue of the 'Communist
Review.'
The article contained
derogatory remarks about
the Monarchy.
It states that the Mon
irchy 'protects the present
system and is a useful wea
son to paralyse -working
uass action for social
;hange.'
The raiders were said to
be seeking material— ana
;he source of it — which
iormed the oasis of that
irticle.
Practically all the raids
were staged simultaneously.
The raiders arrived at the
/arious premises in cars and
'nicks
Later the trucks were
ised to carry the seized
iocuments away.
Special attention was
paid by the raiders to the
premises of the Eureka
Youth League, where the
search was carried on for
longer than at any of the
premises.
While the raids were in
progress Mr. Harold Rich,
solicitor, made a hurried car
iash to the Equity Court and
isked Mr. Justice Myers to
leal with an urgent re
straint applicatioa
He said he wished to ap
ply for an ex-parte injunc
tion restraining the Com
monwealth officers from
searching the offices occu
pied by the staff of the
'Tribune' newspaper.
The warrant the raiding
party used, he said, related
only to the offices of the Aus
tralian Communist Party
and not to those of the
'Tribune.'
'Sworn55
Mr. Rich told the court
that the basis of the search
was that it was being con
ducted on sworn evidence
that there had been an of
fence against the laws of the
Commonwealth in respect of
an article headed 'Demo-
cratic Monarchy' published
last month in the 'Commun-
ist Review.'
Documents including
taxation papers had been
seized in the raid, he said.
Rejecting Mr. Rich's ap
plication, Mr. Justice Myers
said that at the present stage
of the proceedings he had no
jurisdiction to make an order.
The Government official,
who later outlined the
reasons for evidence be
ing sought against the
Communists over the in
dustrial matters, also said
tonight that if the evidence
sought was contained in
the documents seized,
prosecutions under the
Crimes Act against in
dividual Comm u n i s t s
would follow.
He added that the Gov
ernment fully believed the
Communist Party was em
barked on a campaign ol
rolling strikes on the water
front and in mcusiry, plan
ned to upset the economy and
security of the nation.
'Violation'
In announcing the Com
munist Party decision to pro
test over the raids, Mr. Dixon
said they were a violation of
elementary rights of freedom
of speech and organisation.
'We believe that it is the
intention of the Government
to attempt to frame-up the
leaders of the Communist
Party,' he said.
'The central committee is
alerting the party and call
ing for protests from the
Labor movement.'
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