COURTS AND PRIVACY

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 244, 15 October 1935, Page 13

COURTS AND PRIVACY

Tile matter of the Courts and domestic cases on which the National Council of Women deputationised the Minister of Justice bristles with difficulties, and the sooner women's organisations wake to a realisation of the magnitude of the problem the better for all concerned. A change in Court procedure, such as the exclusion of certain people, is quite impracticable for the reason that any citizen has the right to attend a sitting of an open Court and remain to view the proceedings so long as his or lier behaviour conforms to custom the regulations for winch the usually rigidly enforced. Deliberate attempts to cause a disturbance or annoyance are few and far between. Magistrates would hesitate to order the exclusion of any individuals unless fpr the usual serious reasons during*the hearing of certain evidence. And how is a magistrate to distinguish "disreputables" from ordinary members of the public? The few gossips (who may or may not be friends of the parties in the case) who gather at the Courts grist for their mill are comparatively harmless when one considers the suffering caused by widespread Press publicity of details o{ private matters which really concern the litigants only. If the National Council of Women would focus its efforts 011 a demand for 'egislation to deal with this evil, and at the same time educate the public towards the institution of special Courts of Domestic Relations —already proving highly successful elsewhere—we could begin to expect an abatement of the deplorable features of this section of Court proceedings. We have accepted special Children's Courts, closed to both Press and public; much more in keeping with public welfare would be the establishment of special Courts for the hearing of affiliation, separation and maintenance cases, and control of publication of these cases. Urgent as is the necessity for the dignified and private hearing of such cases, this must not be secured at the risk of closed Courts for general or special cases. There is to-day a trend towards abrogation of civic rights and liberty; let us beware lest' misguided zeal lead to further encroachments. M. B. SOLJAK. DEPRECIATED CURRENCY. In view of a cabled report, dated March 10. some time ago that the Trcasurv of the United States of America profited by (>75,000,000 dollars as a result of decreasing the gold content of the dollar, I feel constrained to ask how far standards of measure also will be allowed to be manipulated, and in this I do not overlook the fact that New Zealand has virtually depreciated her standard of measure by 25 per cent. We have standards of weights and measures and an inspector to bring to heel any trader who does not conform to those standards. And yet a Government will hold up its head in the world because it can raise a profit from manipulating its measure of value. Traders, too, could be Cleveland show a handsome profit if they could buy oti the basis of 30in to the yard and sell 011 the basis of 27in to the yard. This manipulation of-the measure of value is fundamentally wrong and the sooner it is realised the sooner confidence will be restored. With a measure of value that is manipulated there is nothing to build 011 and confidence can never return to trading, either nationally or internationally, until the measure of value is fixed and inviolable in the same way as the standard measure of length and weight.

The finest tonic the world could receive to-day is a fixed standard measure of values —trading could then look after itself. A manipulation of the measure of value in one country automatically sets iip repercussions everywhere, and so it will go 011 ad infinitum. For example, to-day New Zealand is loaded with Japanese goods for which the depreciated yen is largely responsible, to the detriment of our best customer, the United Kingdom. This could be alleviated. What the Japanese do with their yen in their own country is 110 concern of ours, but it ought to concern us when their goods are shipped to New Zealand on a depreciated currency. Our Government ought to recognise 110 other measure of value except the established and standard par rate of exchange of the yen. If, as an example, the par rate is 2/o=l and the current rate 1/2, duties ought to be assessed 011 the par rate and the amount of the depreciation collected, as additional revenue with which our taxation could be relieved. So that, with a duty of, say, 10 percent it would mean (using the above figures) an amount of about 2>Jd for duty, plus lOJtl to cover the amount of the depreciation of the yen —total, 1/1. The taxpayers can do with it. and as far as I can see such a basis amounts to a sane business proposition, as it only brings to a stimdard measure of value the manipulation of the measure of value of another country. The same could be done with other countries, not only Japan. What would be thought if. instead of New Zealand saying her £1 is worth about 10/ in England, she =nid 111) of butter in New Zealand equals when it arrives in England. It would not be done, because that would be against the law of weights and measures. Why then should currency be manipulated in contradistinction to the law relating to weights and measures? Is it any wonder the English farmer kicks, and quotas and tariffs loom 011 the English horizon when the English farmer is restricted to selling his produce on the English market on the basis of IGoz to the pound when New Zealand farmers are selling in the same market 011 the basis of about 20oz to the pound. FAIR TRADING.