SMALL FINE IMPOSED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21940, 29 April 1933, Page 3

SMALL FINE IMPOSED

SEXTON BEFORE COURT

INTERFERENCE WITH HUMAN REMAINS.

A small fine was imposed when John Hellyer Allan appeared for sentence id the Supreme Court before Mr Justice Kennedy yesterday morning on a charge of improperly interfering with human remains buried in a cemetery. Mr A. N. Haggitt, who appeared for the accused, said that it was probable that a case of this kind had never previously come before the court in Dunedin. He had no desire to belittle the offence, but it was not a case of a taatl desecrating a grhve for the sake of gain. It was rather the ease of a servant being suddenly faced with a problem. A funeral had been approaching, the person to be buried had purchased the plot, and the accused had been faced with the necessity of digging the grave to the required depth of 0 feet. He had come across two coffins at a depth of 4 feet 6 inches—a difficult position requiring a sudden decision Counsel made no attempt to excuse the method adopted in overcoming the difficulty. The accused should have dug the grave deeper and interred the bones at a greater depth. It might be suggested that he had acted callously, but lie had been engaged in grave digging for ten years and could not be expected to have the finer feelings of the ordinary person ih these matters. Familiarity must breed a certain indifference. Soldiers knew that. The raw recruit after his first battle became accustomed to carnage and slaughter that he could not have endured previously. The bones were unquestionably ancient. Whose they were was not known, and no one, therefore, had been injured. It had been fea,id that the bones had been removed to a tip, but it was hot U tip in the ordinary sense, it was a place where surplus clay was deposited. It had been an act of tactless stupidity. The accused was a married matt With fonr children. He had borne an unblemished character. Had he hot pleaded guilty it was exceedingly unlikely that any charge could havfe been sheeted home to hira>

Mr H. S. Adams, who appeared on behalf of the Crown Prosecutor, said that the elMunistances ihdidftted that the responsibility rested as much, if not more, upon the employers aS upon the accused. Prior to 1000 a portion of free groiind had been Set aside for the benefit of paupers. By some extraordinary mistake bC ignorance the ground had been rC-SUrveyed and lots had been sold. Ih the CftSe of the grave in question the lot had been purchased In 1900. It seemed that the City Corporation had taken ft considerable responsibility in re-Survey-ihg and re-selling the ground. It Seemed, also, that the corporation should have given the sexton Some instructions. As none had been given the accused had been left to find his own solution. The act had been more, callous and negligent than anything else. His Honor said that,there were many good reasons Why bodies should be buried only after certain requirements had been complied with and why. once buried, human remains Should not be removed Without due sanction and afterwards restored by decent burial. If such an offence as the accused had committed had been common in New Zealand he must have imposed a term of imprisonment. It was the first case of its kind which had come under his notice. The accused had been in no Way responsible for the circumstances leading up to the offence, and it might be that familiarity had made the accused insensible to the requirements of the situation in which he had found himself. HIS Honor added that he proposed to treat the offence as being in substance an offence under the Cemeteries Act ahd not under Crimes Act. A small fine Would be inflicted Which would little more that! cover the Cost to Which the accused had put his country by his net. Se Would be fined £3. If the fiiie was not paid the prisoner would be imprisoued until it was paid, but the term was not to exceed 14 days. Imprisonment would be suspended if in. one month the prisoner paid half the fine and during the following month paid the remainder.

The Dunedin Central branch of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union gave a social afternoon on Thursday last to crude roll mothers and babies. Despite the very inclement weather, the hall was comfortably filled. The president (Mrs Hiott) gave an address on the work of the union in many lands, stressing the fact that the Union stood for world peace, world purity, and worldwide abolition of the traffic in intoxicating liquor atjd drugs. Musical and elocutionary items were contributed by Mrs J. Barry, Mias Joyce Cooper, and Miss S. Wilson, and were much appreciated, Mi's F. Clark wag the accompanist. Nine babies were added to the Little White Ribboners’ Cradle Roll. A tvirelesS set has beeii installed in one of the cars owned by the Rrilice of Wales, so that he can listen to music .while motoring. There Is also an extra loud-speaker for the chauffeur’s use while waiting. Powerful and penetrating, yet safe for all ages—“ NAZOL,” the common-sense remedy for coughs and colds. Clears the bronchial and nasal passages. Gives prompt relief. , 60 doses for Is 6d; 120 doses for 2s 6d. —Advt.