APPEAL CASES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13286, 19 September 1906, Page 8

APPEAL CASES.

[BT- TELEGRAPH PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

Dcnedijj, Tuesday. ' Mr. Justice Cooper to-day delivered judgment in two appeal cases.

The Collector of Customs appealed against. the decision of Mr. Widdowson, S.M., in a case in which Mr. Penn was charged with having made a false declaration, in a matter relating to Customs "duties on certain-electrical appliances. The magis-' traitie dismissed the information 'on the ground that a person who had made the declaration under section 43 of the Customs Law Consolidation Act could only be prosecuted for misdemeanour, and that making and subscribing falsely to the declaration prescribed under section 43 was not an offence under section 243. Mr. Justice Cooper held that the Legislature intended to create two separate offences in the reference to one document. One was intended for the protection of the.revenue, and)as security against carelessness, and required no guilty mind, and was punishable summarily. The other was not only intended for the protection of revenue, but constituted an offence against the community, and placed, a false declaration knowingly made upon the same footing as the crime of perjury. The appeal was allowed, with £7 7s costs", and the magistrate must hear and determine the information. Mr. Justice Cooper gave judgment in the appeal case of the. Presbyterian Church Board v. the Commissioner of Taxes. He considered that in view of the wide meaning placed by the Privy Council in the Dilworth case on the word "public," used in connection with the school, that the.trust for the Presbyterian Theological College was for a "public educational institution," carried on for " public educational purpose," and not liable to land and income tax.