House throws out Caygill bill

Press, 2 August 1979, Page 4

House throws out Caygill bill

PA Wellington Parliament last evening threw out a private member’s bill aimed at updating part of the Police Offences Act because it plans a comprehensive review of the legislation next year. The bill was scrapped after the Opposition had lost a second-reading division, 3545. If enacted, the Police Offences Amendment Bill, introduced by the Labour member of Parliament for St Albans (Mr D. F. Caygill), would hae amended the 1927 vagrancy laws. Under the act association with “reputed thieves and prostitutes” is outlawed. Mr Caygill said that by focusing on repute, the law touched the extremes of vagueness. “Unfortunately, the courts have not defined ‘reputed’ in a manner that would negate reliance on half-baked gossip,” he said. Many of the vagrancy provisions were duplicated in other statutes and this led to differing punishments for substantially the same offence. It also allowed evidence to be admitted under vagrancy offences which was not admissible under other statutes.

The bill would remove this duplication by deleting the obsolete provisions of the act.

The act also prohibited lawyers, social workers, probation officers, and family relations from associating with reputed thieves or those who had no visible means of support. Five years ago Parliament’s Statutes Revision Committee had recommended changes to the act, but these had not been implemented. The bill had been based on the recommendations of that committee.

Mr P. C. East (Nat., Rotorua) agreed that parts of the act had outlived their use. But a special committee was reviewing all outdated legislation and it would be removed from the statute books. He did not believe that it should be done in such a piecemeal manner and wanted Parliament to wait until the Government brought in more sweeping measures to update legislation. The police powers in the act allowed them to use their social welfare role in society and the bill would take this away.