COOK ISLANDS CASE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 79, 30 September 1938, Page 11

COOK ISLANDS CASE

CONTENTS OF PAPERS

COUNSEL'S EXPLANATION

The contents of certain papers seized from the then Resident Commissioner's office in Rarotonga under a search warrant held by the Chief Police Officer of the Cook Islands in March of this year, reference to which was made in an action in the Supreme Court yesterday, were the subject of an explanation by counsel for John Henry Boyes, Public Service Commissioner, the defendant in the action. Albert Carlyon, a police constable, now of Pahiatua, and formerly Chief Police Officer in the Cook Islands, was charged with insubordination by Stephen John Smith, who was Resident Commissioner, and the charge j was upheld at an inquiry conducted by j the Public Service Commissioner.' Carlyon applied to the Court yesterday for a writ quashing the decision reached at the inquiry, and it was1 stated by his counsel that the paper's found in the Commissioner's office'con- i tained a written judgment of a case! that had not been heard. Mr. W. P. Rollings appeared for the, plaintiff, and Mr. A. E. Currie for the defendant. . Mr. Currie, replying to the arguments put forward by Mr. Rollings, submitted that the Public Service Amendment Act, 1927, brought public servants in the Cook Islands under the Public Service Commissioner, and therefore the plaintiff's allegation that the Commissioner had acted without jurisdiction could not be upheld. , Mr. Currie said it was on record that Smith prejudged a native case and interviewed a litigant before the hearing. In fairness to Smith, who was not present, he should say that there was another side to the matter. The sworn evidence.at the inquiry indicated that a native had gone to Mr. Smith in his capacity of Commissioner, and without indicating that legal proceedings were pending. The notes said to be a prejudging of the case were memoranda to be used if the case took a certain turn. The plaintiff, said Mr. Currie, had had a splendid record in the Police Force, and was carefully selected for the position at Rarotonga. The climate, combined with, the small number of white men, might have had something to do- with his action. Mr. Justice Reed reserved his decision.