SUPPRESSION OF NAMES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19254, 17 February 1926, Page 10

SUPPRESSION OF NAMES.

The decision reached by Mr. Poynton that no offender convicted in future of the wrongful conversion of a motor-car need expect to have his name suppressed is interesting for two reasons. It illustrates afresh how prevalent the practice ie becoming. Hardly a day seems to pass but somebody's car is appropriated, probably abused, and then abandoned in some out of the way place. At the outset, the offence was regarded as almost veniaL It was not theft, and the law had tc? be strengthened to make the imposition of anything beyond trifling punishment possible. Now it has developed to such an extent that it cannot be regarded so complacently, cannot, in faot, be treated as a mere exhibition of innocent exuberance. Serious damage to valuable property and actual loss of life have followed in a number of instances. Therefore it must be taken seriously, and Mr. Poynton's pronouncement on it j.s fully justified. The other point is the bearing of the incident on the wider question, that of the circumstances in which publication of names should be forbidden. On Mr. Poynton's own admission the unwanted publicity following a oonviction has a definite value. It warns the public. Also it is part of the punishment, and to most people so substantial a part as to be a decided deterrent. Therefore, obviously, it jhaald bo eliminated, only in. very

special circumstances. One of the difficulties of ordering suppression is that each instance instantly creates a precedent, not in the usual legal sense, but one which must have an influence. The power given them has certainly embarrassed some magistrates considerably. If there were an unwritten understanding among them all that only where the offender was of tender years, yet not young enough to come before the Juvenile Court, or where the offence itself was in every sense of the word trivial, would publications of names be forbidden, there would then be a uniformity of practice which would help the Bench and accord with public feeling. If that course were followed, then neither those making away with other people's cars nor those caught in charge of a car while drunk could expect to escape the publicity which both obviously dread as much as they deserve it.