AGY-4899 | Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Matter of the Trial and Conviction and Sentences Imposed on Charles Reeve and Others

Full description

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the conviction of Charles Reeve and others [International/Industrial Workers of the World Inquiry], was presided over by the Honorable Norman Kirkwood Ewing, Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of Tasmania. The Commission was to enquire into all facts and circumstances related to the trial of the prisoners which may show their guilt or innocence, whether the conviction of the prisoners, for which they are now serving sentences, was in the circumstances just and right, and whether upon the evidence presented at the trial or before the Commission their sentences should be sustained or not, whether the sentences the prisoners are required to serve are excessive, and any matters arising out of or in connection with the trial and convictions. (1)

The Report noted that since the original trial, held in November 1916, it had become clear that the conviction of the prisoners depended to a large extent upon the evidence given by four witnesses who had subsequently been shown to be dishonest liars and perjurers. This was not known at the time of the trial. (2)

The Report assessed the evidence presented against the prisoners Charles Reeve, Thomas Glynn, Peter Larkin, John Hamilton, Bernard Bob Besant, Thomas Moore, Donald McPherson, William Teen, William Beatty, Morris Joseph Fagin, Donald Grant, and John Benjamin King, and made recommendations regarding the appropriateness of each prisoner's sentence. (3)

Endnotes
1. Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into The Matter of the Trial and Conviction and Sentences Imposed on Charles Reeve and Others, Parliamentary Papers 1920, Second Session, Vol 1, p.9. (Report available online in NSW Parliament Tabled Papers, https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/historictabledpapers/files/185223/1920%20Second%20Session_1_002.pdf). 
2. ibid., pp.15.
3. ibid., pp.18-27.

Note: The Printed report and minutes of evidence [Royal Commission of Inquiry into the matter of the trial and conviction and sentences imposed on Charles Reeve and others] is included in NRS-333-5-[4/7594].