UNLAWFUL POSSESSION.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4937, 10 February 1926, Page 4

UNLAWFUL POSSESSION.

LAX LAW IN QUEENSLAND.

SPOILS TO THE BURGLAR. The laws respecting unlawful possession is so loose in Queensland that a motor ’bus, laden with stolen goods can be driven through it. A tentimes convicted thief may have his house full of stolen goods, but unless these goods can be indentifled by the owners they remain the property of the thief. If- the ggpds are found in the prisoner’s possession in the street he may be' called upon .to prove that he came by them lawfully ; if they are found in his house he does not have to prove lawful possession the onus of proof falls on the prosecution. It frequently happens that it is ( impossible to obtain the necepshiy proof, though there may be no reasonable doubt that the goods were stolen. Goods stolen from the wharves,, for instance, cannot be identified by the consignees who have not received them. In a case which came before the courts a few months) ago a convicted thief who was given a long term of imprisonment for stealing had in his possession a large quantity of goods., manifestly stolen, but not the subject of the charges on which he was convicted. The judge said he had no doubt that these goods were stolen, as alleged by the police. The police took the opinion of the Crown •Law Department as to what was to be done with the articles. The reply was that they must be returned to the thief or his nominees. Goods- found in the possession of a prisoner, and not identified by their owners, must be returned to the prisoner or his, nominees, no matter how strongly theft may be suspected I It is a law which safeguards the burglar, the cargo-pilferer, and the shoplifter in the possession of his spoils’. Fol’years past the police officials have been calling for an amendment of the law ttf give them at least an equal chance with the thieves, but Ministers have turned a deaf ear. Queensland judges are continually remarking on the influx of southern burglars. Perhaps, as a Sydney journal points out, the law as to unlawful possession supplies the reason.