CORONER AND SERGEANT.
A PASSAGE-AT-ARMS
By Telegraph—Press Association
BLENHEIM, September 5
The jury foujnd no evidence to show how the fire destroying the house, in which Thos. Dunckley was burned to death on Saturday night, originated. The evidence disclosed disgraceful drinking customs. There was a fierce passage-at-arms curing the inquest between Sergeant Mason, repres'enting the police, and the coroner, Mr Scott Smith. The coroner said that the way witnesses were being shielded in the examination amounted to a public scandal.
Sergeant Mason retorted that he had never heard such cross-examin-ation by a presiding official in his life.
The coroner threatened to commit him for contempt of court, and ruled from the Evidence Act 1905 that witnesses can be required to answer questions that might incriminate them.
Sergeant Mason held otherwise. The*'breeze" ended by the coroner asking the sergeant to continue the examination.
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Bibliographic details
Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8529, 6 September 1907, Page 6
Word Count
142CORONER AND SERGEANT. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8529, 6 September 1907, Page 6
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