During the First World War a number of radicals came under the spotlight of the New Zealand government; mainly for their opposition to war and military conscription. Regulations were put in place to target political dissent, making it illegal to “incite, encourage, advice or advocate violence, lawlessness and disorder, or express any seditious intention.” This included books, pamphlets and letters critical to New Zealand's involvement in the war. Such correspondence - both internal and international - was stopped, censored, or destroyed by a team of postal censors working under the control of the New Zealand military, which in turn, was guided by Solicitor General Sir John Salmond.

On Friday 8 October 1915, the Latvian-born Jewish tailor and anarchist bookseller Philip Josephs, was arrested at his shop at 95 Cuba Street, Wellington after a censor spotted letters to Emma Goldman. Two detectives “searched Josephs’ shop… and took possession of all books and papers, on anarchism and socialism, found on the premises.” They then searched his home in Khandallah. As the search warrant and Police report above shows, the authorities were concerned about the amount of literature Josephs was importing into New Zealand - letters, account books, forty magazines and books in foreign print, eleven newspapers in foreign print (including Chinese anarchist circulars), and over fifty books and pamphlets in English were confiscated.

The records above come from a file in the Army Department series 'Secret Registry: Confidential Series' (www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewEntity.do?code=8647). There is a wealth of material in this series, including other examples of censored letters and booklets.

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