POLICE APPEAL UPHELD

Hawera Star, Volume LII, 18 November 1932, Page 4

POLICE APPEAL UPHELD

GOLD-BUYING . LICENSES

CASE AT WANG A NUT

(By Tclegr&pb—Press Association.) WANGANUI, Nov. 17

The reserved judgment of Mr. Justice Reed, delivered in the- Supreme Court this afternoon, upheld the appeal of John Walsh, detective, against the decision of Mr. J. H. Salmon. S.M., in respect to an information laid by the police against a man who was dealing in second-hand gold. The contention of the appellant was that if the decision of the magistrate was correct and people were allowed to purchase gold without a license under the Second-Hand Dealers’ Act. thieves would be afforded facilities to get rid of ill-gotten gains. His Honour’s judgment points out that the Act of 1908 is a consolidation of the 1902 Act. In arriving at-, his decision to uphold the appeal he has reviewed two important sections defining a second-hand dealer, and points out that to be excluded from the operations of the Act the onus is on the person to show that he does not carry on the business of purchasing secondhand articles except for the purpose of manufacturing articles therefrom. In this case there was prima facie evidence that the accused was a sec-ond-hand dealer without a license, and he had not furnished proof that he was manufacturing- articles from the gold lie was so purchasing.