COURT REPORTS

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4606, 6 October 1934, Page 2

COURT REPORTS

NEWSPAPERS AND DIVORCE PROCEEDINGS. The advanced attitude of New Zealand in the manner in which the Legislature viewed the importance of the publicity given to divorce cases was emphasised in the House of Representatives by Mr. W. J. Broadfoot, M.P. for Waitomo, when he replied to the debate on the report of the Statutes Revision Committee concerning the Judicial Proceedings (Regulation of Reports) Bill. Mr. Broadfoot said that it was just as essential to have the publication of photographs as to have the publication of words. It should be recognised that New Zealand was in advance of the Imperial Parliament in the methods of handling publicity in divorce cases. For over thirty years New Zealand had adopted a different

line of action from that adopted in Great Britain, and during that time had given discretionary power to judges and magistrates not only to hear actions in camera, but also to forbid the publication of any part of the proceedings. In addition to that, there had been the discretion of the Press. In fact, there was a double discretion, and he held that that was the right course to adopt.

It was not until 1926 that the Imperial Parliament moved in the matter by limiting the details of proceedings that could be published, and he thought that the Imperial Government would have been well advised to have copied New Zealand's advanced legislation. Were New Zealand to adopt the British 1926 legislation it would be a retrograde step. Mr. Broadfoot said that he had quoted figures showing that from 1926 to 1931 the number of divorces in Great Britain increased by 45 per cent. The member for Wellington Central had stated that

he (Mr. Broadfoot) had suppressed material facts in that he had not indicated that the causes of divorce had been greatly increased. Mi*. Broadfoot said that there had been no material alterations in the divorce law of Great Britain since 1923. When he looked at the New Zealand records he found that from 1926 to 1931, under the Dominion's system of publicity, there had not been any increase in the percentage of divorces heard. That was proof whether New Zealand's method was wiser than that of the Home people. Photographs were the modern method of publicity, and where a man or woman had broken the social code that person ought to be known to the public.

Mr. Broadfoot, said that the member for Auckland Suburbs had said that the issue about publicity in Court and publicity in newspapers had been confused. There was no such confusion. When the basic rule that the Courts should be open

to everyone was laid down, the number of people that could be interested in Court proceedings was limited because of the lack of transport and the scarcity of newspapers. But those limitations had been largely removed. Those people who had not the time to sit in Court were just as entitled to know what had taken place there as the people who did riot attend the proceedings.

"The question at issue," said Mr. Broadfoot, "is whether publicity is or is not a deterrent. I claim, after having had many years of experience in cases of this nature, that publicity is the greatest deterrent we have, and if we close the doors of the Courts, or close the columns of the newspapers to these cases, breaches of the social code will seriously increase."

The report of the Statutes Revision Committee, of which Mr. Broadfoot is chairman, was laid on the table.

"Alfred!" said the better (and bigger) half to the partner of her joys and sorrows as she invaded the smoker of the Te Aroha train in quest of him, "if you smoke that pipe you'll be ill! Remember last time!" Everybody laughed, while poor Alfred tried hard to look as if he were enjoying himself. Pitying his confusion his neighbour said: "Perhaps you're smoking the wrong tobacco? It's easy to do that!" "I Wish he'd stop smoking altogether," remarked the lady acidly. Here Alfred produced a bit of dark twist and showed it to the other man. "Too much nicotine in that," pronounced the old smoker. "Know the brand. Couldn't smoke it myself. Why not try toasted New Zealand? Beats the band—and quite harmless. You see it's toasted. Start with Riverhead. You'll enjoy it." Alfred said he would. He's w):se. By the way, there are five brands of toasted —Riverhead Gold, Navy Cut No. 3 (Bulldog), Cavendish, Cut Plug No. 10 (Bullshead) and Desert Gold. Connoisseurs nronounce them "unequalled for purity—comparative freedom from nicotine" —flavour and bouquet." They are! (418)