Bill Sutch

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William Ball Sutch (27 June 1907 - 28 September 1975) was a New Zealand writer and civil servant. He gained public recognition when he was accused of trying to pass government secrets to the Soviet Union. He was acquitted.

Sutch was born in Southport, England, but his family moved to New Zealand when he was only eight months old. He grew up in the Methodist faith, which was to have a strong influence on him throughout his life. He went to the Wellington College of Education, and Victoria University of Wellington, gaining a MA and BCA. He then taught at Nelson College and Wanganui Technical College for a time before travelling overseas. He returned to New Zealand during the Great Depression, which had a considerable impact on his personal philosophy.

Politically, Sutch was generally on the left. He was involved in a number of left-leaning organisations and associations, and helped edit and publish literature connected with them. In 1939, he was involved in the publication of Psycho-pathology in politics, written by Labour Party dissident John A. Lee as an attack on the party's leader, Michael Joseph Savage. He himself authored two books: Poverty and progress in New Zealand and The quest for security in New Zealand.

In 1933, Sutch took up a position in the office of Gordon Coates, who was Minister of Finance. When the government changed, he continued on in the office of Coates's replacement, Walter Nash of the Labour Party. He had considerable input into economic policy at the time. Eventually, Sutch's political activities were deemed incompatible with his official role, and he was transferred out of the economic sphere. In World War II, he left the civil service to join the army, becoming an instructor. At the end of the war, he took up a position with the new United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, working in Sydney. As a result of this work, he was selected to head the New Zealand delegation to the United Nations, where he held a positions with the Economic and Social Commission and UNICEF.

Upon returning to New Zealand in 1951, Sutch worked for the Department of Industries and Commerce, eventually rising to be its secretary. In this role, Sutch advocated price controls, economic protectionism, and the emphasis of industrial capacity rather than agriculture. He left the role in 1965, and eventually became a consultant. He published several more books, and became active in the arts and architectural communities, including the Wellington Architectural Centre.

In September 1974, Sutch was charged under the Official Secrets Act in relation to a meeting he had with an official of the Soviet Union's embassy in Wellington. It was claimed by the Security Intelligence Service that Sutch had obtained official government information for the purpose of giving it to the Soviets, but Sutch was acquitted of the charges in February the following year. Claims that he was a member of the Communist Party were not substantiated.

Sutch died the same year he was acquitted, having begun to suffer ill health at about the same time as he was arrested. Debate over his guilt or innocence continued long after his death. A book published in 2006 by C.H (Kit) Bennetts, the SIS officer who had first observed Sutch, reasserted the claim that he was guilty.

[edit] External links

• Sutch's entry in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
• Spy, C.H. Bennetts
• Bennetts, C.H. (Kit) (2006). Spy. Auckland: Random House N.Z.. ISBN 978-1-86941-831-1. 
• New Zealand Herald Editorial, "Enduring study in treachery"
• NZSIS officer publishes a book about Sutchhe also used to dance to the salsa in 1900}