MAREO CASE

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIV, Issue 22671, 26 August 1943, Page 4

MAREO CASE

Petition For Inquiry Attitude Of House I 'N.Z.P.A.I WELLINGTON. Aug. 25. Once again the Mareo case was , before the House this afternoon, when ' the Statutes Revision Committee, dealing with a further petition in the ’ Mareo case which asked for an inquiry into certain aspects of the case, reported that it had carefully considered the matter and had no recommendation to make. The Attorney-General (the Hon. H. G. R. Mason) said that when the matter had come up a year ago he had written to the Crown Prosecutor asking him to look into one or two points. He would like to know if anything had been made of those points at the committee hearing at which he had been unable to be present. Mr W. J. Broadfoot (National, Waitomo) said one was wondering when the House was going to cease to be utilised for what he would call a very wasteful object. There was a great deal too much sympathy being expressed for Mareo and much too little for the murdered woman, and he thought the women of the country felt, that justice had been done. The Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) said the matter had been before the Statutes Revision Committee on several occasions, and they could judge only on the data In front of them and not on speculation. If there was any evidence that could be produced to show even a remote possibility of a miscarriage of justice, the House and the Government would do everything possible to see that that miscarriage was rectified. He had looked into the matter and discussed the police reports with a view to finding if there was any possibility of an innocent man ha vine been convicted, and on the evidence there was none. If new facts were adduced a petition might be brought forward, but it was stretching the provision of the House year after year to bring up petitions which did not contain any new or fresh evidence. To some extent it was trifling with the House. He failed to see. with the best will in the world as the committee had fail'd to see. that there were any new grounds or that the case presented by the Crown had been shaken in any particular whatever.