THE CRIMES ACT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 249, 20 October 1937, Page 8

THE CRIMES ACT

DEFECT? IN WORDING CHARGES AGAINST MAORI DISMISSED [ Per Press Association. ] AUCKLAND, Oct. 19. An omission from the wording of the Crimes Act, which contains no reference to such buildings as the pavilions of sports bodies, was commented on by Mr. Justice Fair during his address to the Grand Jury at the opening of the criminal sessions in the Supreme Court. Charges were laid against a Maori of having broken into the pavilion of the Pukekohe racecourse and stolen property from the golf club’s room there. Owing to the defect mentioned in the Act a charge was laid against the man of having broken into a “warehouse.”

His Honour said the Grand Jury ought to find no bill on the first and fourth counts because the essence of those counts was that accused had broken into a “warehouse.” A warehouse was a storehouse in which mercantile goods were stored. Although that meaning had to be extended at times, by no reasonable extension could a pavilion on a racing club’s property used by a golf club be called a warehouse. It appeared that'

by the defect in the Crimes Act a building of this kind was not covered by the word “warehouse.” That was the only word that looked like describing this type of building. Following His Honour’s direction the Grand Jury rejected the two of breaking and entering.