Australian Letter Heavy Penalties To Deter Car Thieves

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28324, 9 July 1957, Page 16

Australian Letter Heavy Penalties To Deter Car Thieves

(Australian Correspondent, N.Z.P.A.)

SYDNEY, July 7.

Opinions vary about the effect of prescribing deterrent penalties for car thefts, but a strong case in favour of them was made in Newcastle last week. The head of the Criminal Investigation Bureau in Newcastle, Detective-Sergeant V. Woodward, quoted figures to show that heavy gaol sentences in Newcastle in the last six months had reduced the number of car thefts in that city. He said that at the February sittings of the quarter sessions 33 cases of car stealing were heard. Of those charged, 21 received four years’ gaol and the lightest sentence was 15 months.

At the April sitting, the Judge heard only 13 charges of car stealing. In July only two cases of car stealing were before the Court. Detective-Sergeant Woodward said that he had no doubt that the heavy sentences imposed in February had been the main reason for the sharp drop in the number of cars stolen in Newcastle.

Last week, in Armidale (Northern Tablelands) a Judge sentenced one 17-year-old boy to three and a half years’ gaol and another youth of the same age to two years’ gaol for car-stealing. 1 Sentences of a similar nature ;have been imposed in other country towns but not in Sydney where during a recent week-end 70 cars were stolen.

The Sydney newspapers now urge that Sydney Courts apply adequate penalties with uniform severity. They take the view that, unpalatable though it is to send youths to gaol., the scale of car thefts in New South Wales demands gaol sentences to check this crime.

The idea of sending law-break-ing bodgies, and other young toughs, to jaol every week-end for three months has been advanced by Mr D. Darby, M.L.A.

Make them work during the week at their jobs and keep them away from the milk bars at the week-ends, he says. That would keep them out of the way of temptation—and cool their criminal ardour.

The “Daily Telegraph” thinks it would also be a good idea if a way could be found to force them to pay in full for any damage caused in the course of their unlawful activities.

A bodgie who stole a car and smashed it up would lose his enthusiasm for such escapades if he had to mortgage his pay for a few years to compensate the owner, says the “Daily Telegraph.” Two clergymen, the Rev. Dr. Malcolm McKay, minister of Scots Church and Monsignor J. F. McCosker in charge of the Catholic Welfare Department strongly disagreed with Mr Darby’s idea. They took the view that bodgies would leave overcrowded gaols better equipped to carry on their old activities than before they went in. The clergymen suggested that education was better than punishment as a deterrent. The Sydney “Sun” had the last word. It conceded that education was better than punishment, but said: “You can’t start this kind of education at 18. The only way the public can be protected while these young louts are being educated is to make them stop and think good and hard first.” There have been some very bad bodgie brawls in Sydney in recent weeks. Police have had to break all-in fights at three dance halls. A number of adolescent youths have been arrested, and a number of others admitted to hospital. * ¥ ¥

The Australian Government will not make an immediate anouncement on lung cancer and smoking. Commenting on the British Government’s decision to begin a campaign to inform people of the dangers of smoking, the Federal Health Minister, Mr T. A. Cameron, said that he knew of no move for a specific Australian investigation into the causes of lung cancer. The Australian Health and • Medical Research Council recommended in May that there should I be a publicity campaign against I the smoking habit. i Western Australia is the only I State to act so far on the recomi mendation and advise people ! against smoking. Stories are told on every hand • of people giving up smoking. ; One Sydney newspaper claimed ■ that dozens of Australian doctors : have given up the habit in the last : few months. Most of them frankly i admitted that reports linking lung • cancer and smoking were a : frightening warning to “lay off” cigarettes. 5 A women supervisor of a large • city store said that many of the • girls under her were giving up smoking, and a poll of a dozen city offices showed all had their numj.bers of girls giving up the habit.

The newspapers have published the suggestions of “experts” on how to stop smoking. Number one suggestion is “stop dead in your tracks.”

In Adelaide, the chairman of the South Australian Anti-Cancer Campaign Committee who is a doctor said that the Federal and State Governments should ban smoking at all public gatherings. Non-smokers should not be forced to breathe smoke-polluted air, he said. “The eradication of the smoking habit is a public health measure.” 3* * #

A prominent Labour man has suggested the Government should abolish the Upper House and devote the £ 100,000 a year saving to help build the Opera House. Mr J. W. Brock, secretary of the Tram and Bus Employees Union, made the suggestion which is expected to cause a stir in Labour Party circles. Recent Labour conferences have avoided the issue of Upper House abolition although it is a party plank. * * ¥

At a time when the average Australian is swotting over the task of filling in his income-tax return the president of the Taxpayers’ Association of New South Wales, Mr C. A. Sindel has come up with a startling suggestion. He has advised taxpayers to claim fares to and from work as an income-tax deduction. He said the Commissioner of Taxation would “most likely” disallow such claims, as he regarded these fares as “domestic and private expenses and not allowable deductions.”

“When this happens his ruling will be challenged and a test case will be fought out in the High Court,” Mr Sindel said.

He said that the Income Tax Act provided in part that “all losses or outgoings incurred in gaining and producing assessable income, provided they are not of a capital, private or domestic nature, shall be allowable deductions.”

The Act did not define “domestic and private expenses.” Mr Sindel said: “To me, the Taxation Commissioner’s argument that fares are a domestic expense is unreal, lopsided and unfair. The chief ingredient for all workers in producing ‘assessable income’ is to travel to the places of their business. “No travel to work results in no assessable income.”

Mr Sindel said that politicians received travelling expenses. Tram, train, bus and ferry workers, police and other public servants received valuable transport concessions and were taxed only on their salaries. This was the equivalent of allowing fares as a tax deduction from their gross assessable incomes.

The “Sydney Sun,” in supporting Mr Sindel’s suggestion, says that it will sound like common sense to most of the people filling in returns this month. Unfortunately, the law does not always work by common sense, says the newspaper.

Heavy fare increases in the last year have made the cost of getting to and from work a major item in most employees’ living expenses. Surely the expense of going to do a job (for wages which are taxed) should be just as allowable a deduction as that claimed by a manufacturer or producer who gets an exemption for “losses and outgoings incurred in gaining assessable income.”

In Canberra, the Commissioner of Taxation, Mr P. S. McGovern said: “The preponderance of legal opinion is opposed to Mr Sindel’s views.” ¥ * ¥

Preliminary work had begun on a new overseas shipping terminal to be built along the western side of Circular Quay in Sydney Harbour. The first stage of the project which involves replacing two big wharves is to be completed in 1960 at a cost of £1,500,000. The whole 1600 ft wharf project will cost £3m.

Maritime Service Board officials said that the project had been planned because Sydney had no terminal large enough to handle two new liners scheduled to be put on the United Kingdom-Aus-tralian trans-Pacific run late in 1960.

The first part of the project, a 1000*t by 120 ft, two-storey terminal building, was to be ready by then. Police traffic experts are concerned that the new terminal completely lacks parking space, and the traffic superintendent, Mr J. E. Gribble, said that he would press for the provision of a parking space on the roof of the building for between 600 and 1000 cars. The two new .ships for the Australian run, a 45,000-ton P. and O. liner and a 40,000-ton Orient liner,

have been ordered by the two companies from British shipyards at a cost of £24m.

They Sydney terminal will be able to handle the 2300 passengers which each of the new ships can carry at a time. « « ❖ sj:

The Commonwealth Government has authorised preparation of designs for the 20-storey Commonwealth offices to be built in Sydney. The structure will be 230 feet high, 80 feet higher than the former city height limit. Preparation for and the construction of the first stage of the building will take more than four years.

Builders and architects are agreed that the building will be a magnificent addition to Sydney’s architecture. ¥ ¥ ¥

Sydney’s cat population is reaching plague proportions. Mr J. Holland, secretary of the R.S.P.C.A., said that about 1.000,000 cats roamed Sydney streets. ‘‘l wouild say that there is one cat for every two persons in Sydney.” He said that the R.S.P.C.A. destroyed about 8000 cats a year. It had three men in vans doing nothing but picking up cats. ¥ ¥ ¥

Cave explorers have discovered the largest limestone cavern yet found in New South Wales. They found the cavern in the Wombeyan caves, miles west of Mittagoong. The explorers estimate the cavern to be 200 ft high and 400 ft long at the main cross section. It is 300 ft across at its widest point. # # «

A woman civil engineer is in charge of a £130,000 building project at Canberra which is being completed in record time. The woman is Mrs Karl Schreiner, whose husband is governing director of the company which has the contract for the erection of 26 two-storey homes at Kingston, Canberra. Mrs Schreiner is a graduate in civil engineering. She has directed work on contracts worth £2m. in the last five years. * « #

Commonwealth Scientific and | Industrial Research Organisation scientists hope to develop a means of transmitting myxomatosis to rabbits with the aid of a colony! of fleas which were imported as eggs from England by air. At present myxomatosis is spread by mosquitos. It is hoped to breed a large number of fleas and release than about the middle of next year in rabbit-infested country. It is believed the fleas could spread a more deadly form of myxomatosis.