PETITION MADE FOR COMPENSATION

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23881, 25 February 1943, Page 3

PETITION MADE FOR COMPENSATION

WRONGFUL IMPRISONMENT ALLEGED

(P.A.) WELLINGTON. February 24. A claim for compensation for financial loss as a result of imprisonment after the riots in Auckland on April 14, 1932, was made in a petition presented in the House of Representatives by Mrs M. M. Dreaver (Labour, Waitemata) for George Joseph Silver, a carpenter, who was, after the riots, arrested, convicted, and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment with hard labour on charges of inciting lawlessness. Silver stated that he had been appointed marshal of a procession of workers from the Chief Post Office to the Auckland Town Hall. He denied being concerned in the destruction and looting of a property. Silver alleged that he was not permitted to give evidence at his trial, and described his experiences in prison and a break-down in health. He claimed that he was wrongfully convicted and sentenced, and challenged the character of the evidence at his trial, also contending that the jury had been misdirected by the Judge. He stated that he was now in receipt of an invalidity pension of £l3O annually for his family of three persons, and he claimed compensation for his financial loss in the years of his sentence and those following until he was granted a pension in 1938.