SPORT AND LAW.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 6, 8 January 1934, Page 9

SPORT AND LAW.

TWO CURIOUS CASES. RUGBY LEAGUE POLICEMAN. CAN'T BE SPARED—FROM TEAM. (From Our Ort Correspondent.)' SYDNEY, January 3. A curious incident occurred here recently during the judicial hearing of a certain case, which illustrated clearly the immense importance of the part now played by sport in the public mind. The case concerned the export of opossum skins. A well-known firm wa6 charged with having consigned to London some thousands of opossum skins concealed in wool packs. The opossum is now a protected animal and the penalty for the export of a single ekin may range up to £5. It happened that the police were anxious to get a conviction in this instance, as a similar charge had been laid a short time ago, and had broken down because it was found impossible to prove the direct complicity of the firm concerned. In the second case everything depended on the possibility of getting direct evidence avs to the arrival ot the opossum skins in London hidden in the wool packs, and this was not easy to obtain. It happened, however, that a member of the Sydney police force, Constable Curran, was on leave in England touring with the League football team, and he was authorised to go to London and examine the packs himself. But when the case, after several adjournments, came before the Court, counsel for the defence naturally claimed his right to crossexamine the constable; and the police had the matter postponed again to see what might be done. They communicated with the League authorities and the managers replied that, as their team had been badly knocked about, they would need every available man to complete the tour, and they could not spare so valuable a man as Curran. Charge Dismissed. Police headquarters here niigfct have solved their difficulty at once •by officially recalling Curran; but this they declined to do. Rather than run the risk of spoiling the chances of the Kangaroos they simply told the Court, when the case came on again, that they could not produce their witness. This gave counsel for the defence a splendid opportunity to protest against these evasions and to declare that his clients were imperilled and the dignity of the law was being sacrificed by this ridiculous subordination of justice to sport. The magistrate, feeling his personal and official prestige endangered, cordially agreed, refused to adjourn further, and dismissed the case. This may have been lucky for the defendants, as the fines to which they might have been liable totalled about £17,000. But I have told the story to exemplify the manner in which sport nowadays has made bold to trespass even upon the sacred preserves of the law.

There is another ancedote which presents the same tendency from another point of view. This time, from the standpoint of the Rugby Union game. Mark Fairless Morton was one of the Wallabies who toured South Africa during the winter, and on his return to Sydney, as he is an articled law clerk and is anxious not to lose any of his "time," he requested that the weeks spent on the trip should be counted to his credit toward the completion of his law term. Accordingly the solicitor to whom he is articled, Mr. Roxburgh, applied to the Full Court on Morton's behalf. He told the judges' by affidavit that in his opinion the tour would help Morton "to fit himself for the office of a solicitor." The affidavit also stated that since Morton's return "the way in tvhich he had approached and dealt with matters" had appeared to justify Mr. Roxburgh's opinion that "the tour would be beneficial to him," Laughter in Court. These statements, I regret to say, were received with considerable "laughter in the Court," and the acting-Chief Justice, Sir John Harwy, who has an acute sense of humour, asked "Where did he play?" The answer was "centre forward," and though it may not have meant much to the judges they smiled; and they emiled even more broadly when Mr. Roxburgh's affidavit repeated .hie assurance that the errant Wallaby's absence from the office "would in great measure be compensated for by the energy and keenness with which he would execute his duties after his return." Mr. Justice James admitted that Morton's football experience "might help him to keep his temper"; and the acting-Chief Justice observed, rather dubiously!; that this was in effect a request that "we should consider this as active service' at the front." After consultation with his brother judges, Sir John Harvey said that Mr. Justice James and . Mr. Justice Halse Rogers thought that the application should be granted. "I, myself," he added, a little wearily, "do not feel strongly enough about the matter to dissent."

This was the signal for more "laughter in Court," and there "the stcvy stays." But it is not a bad story, and readers may draw any moral they please.