Attention has lately been focused on academic freedom. The exclusion of a security agent from lectures at Auckland University has by all accounts upheld that freedom. During the Depression at the same university, the verdict turned the other way.

Dr. J. C. Beaglehole, C.M.G., M.A., (N.Z.), PL. D. (Lond.), Hon D. L.I.H. (Oxford) is one of New Zealand's foremost historians and is Professor of British Commonwealth History at this university.

Yet in 1932 he was "retrenched" from Auckland University.

Was he a scapegoat for a depression-bitter public? Patricia Caughley takes a look at this little-known incident. . .

One of the vital questions at that time concerned university staff — whether they were entitled to the privileges enjoyed by other citizens in making their views public. What brought this query to the fore was the retrenchment of a lecturer at Auckland University by the College Council.

In April, 1932, serious rioting occurred in Auckland, an incident that was not uncommon during the Depression. Shortly afterwards but in no way related to the riot, two men were sentenced to six months' jail for causing some literature alleged to advise lawlessness to be brought into the country. The magistrate said in all solemnity "The distribution of this sort of literature leads to disturbances such as we have had in our streets."

It would seem from this statement that the verdict the magistrate arrived at was based not only on the seditious literature charge, but also on the judgment that these men could in a sense be held responsible for the riot. Speculation was the only basis for his remarks.