THE "PROTECTION" OF THE LAW.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19148, 3 November 1927, Page 11

THE "PROTECTION" OF THE LAW.

TO THE EDITOB 0? THE FBESS. Sir,—As a spectator at the Magistrate's Court to-day I would like to offer a little comment on the case in which the "Weekly Press" was involved. The charge against the publisher of the "Weekly Press" was that lie had begun to conduct, a lottery. It was explained that a photograph of a number of people bad been, published, .'with a ring around the head of one iperson, who was invited to collect the sum of £1 from tho publishing office. The Magistrate dismissed the charge, .'holding that there was no evidence that the element of chance had entered into the transaction. The point that particularly struck me was the unpreparedness of the Chief-Detective, who conducted the case. He had a copy of the picture, but he admitted that he knew nothing of the conditions attaching to the gift'of £l. I noticed ■that • the solicitor for the defence handed to the Bench a copy of the "Weekly Press," and in this the Magistrate found for himself a statement of -the conditions.

- If this is a fair sample of. the methods employed by the Police Department in presenting cases, then I think it is high time tho Courts brought them up with a round turn. If a police officer, or anyone else, took proceedings at civil law under such circumstances of ignorance and lack of preparation as were revealed in the case to which I refer; judgment would be given against him'and he'would have to pay the costs of: the defence. But in a criminal or quasi-criminal prosecution, it appears, the police, though they have no. case at all and have not ! even troubled to iiifonn themselves fully of the circumstances with which they are presumed to, be dealing, are at liberty to put their- victims to the expense of preparing a defence. Surely the public have rights. If the police are to go on as they have done on this occasion no citizen will be safe from costly prosecution. ■.--, .■l'do not raise the question why tho members of the Detective Force are spending' so much of their time in trying to "detect" what they assume to be lotteries. One prominent citizen of my acquaintance when this matter was mentioned to-day remarked: "Serious crime is rampant, yet the detectives are .frittering .:away their time and energy in watching Sunday school picnics. Is their activity in this direction -1 cloak for their lack of ability to deal with the bigger things?" The idea thus expressed appears to be widespread. If to-day's effort in the Court was the best the Chief-Detective could do, then the protection of the law is a pretty weak thing.—Yours, et °'' SPECTATOR. November Ist, 1927. .

"from an insurance point of view it is necessary to go back a great many vears for a loss experience so high as that of last year," said Mr E. E. N. Russell, chairman of directors of the South British Insurance- Company, Ltd., at the annual meeting at Auckland. "Particularly is this the case in respect of dwelling-houses, moro especially in country districts. The advent of electricity has introduced a serious factor as a "fire raiser. Properly installed, maintained, and used, it is as safe as any other system. Bad workmanship and inferior material, however, may make every inch of wiring a potential incendiary. When any fault docs reveal itself, it should be remedied by an expert. This source of danger is within the power of everyone to avoid by taking proper precautions." The losses of the company for the year., under review, he added, amounted tor £617 562. • "It is a huge, sum," said Atr Eu«sell, "but when one reflects that this is only one company's distribution, of the load of misfortune, it will be realised how colossal the total wastage niust be." The telephone is putting the telegraph's nose out of joint every year in Britain. Fourteen years ago m London, for every telephone call put through, there were two telegrams. Last year, for everv telegram, thcrd were two telephone calls. When the Post Oflice j took cbarge of tho telephones in 1912, there were 730,821 telephone instruments in use, and'.797,000 000 local calls were made. In 192a-1926 there were ] 300156 stations, and 1,016,000,000 local calls were-made. The income from the wrvieJ to 1925-1926 was £16,163,206. _