The Revised Sedition Bill The Sedition Bill as it emerges
from the committee stage after protracted argument has been robbed of some, at least, of its most objectionable features. The offence of attempting to seduce a member of His Majesty's forces from his duty and allegiance has been more precisely defined. It is no longer possible to convict a person merely because he has in his possession seditious literature " without lawful excuse"; there must be " intent to commit or to aid, abet, command or procure " a breach of a soldier's duty and allegiance. 'The sub- section which made it a crime to do any act preparatory to the offence of seduction has been deleted. The option of trial by jury has been granted and two Justices of the Peace instead of one are required to empower the issue of a search warrant. In spite of all this the Bill in the lack of precision of its language in • general, and in the right that it confers in particular on magistrates to issue something dangerously like a general warrant, remains a serious encroachment on - personal liberty, Only an emergency in which there was reason to believe that Communist propaganda among the troops had assumed serious proportions could justify it.
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