Lying Tongues

NZ Truth, Issue 1181, 19 July 1928, Page 6

Lying Tongues

nURING the past few years, there has 'been an enormous increase m what might be termed "witness-box lying." Learned judges know it ; magistrates know it»; but apparently they content themselves with expressing Hheir disbelief m a witness '• evidence and take no further action. Is it any wonder, then, that a man believing that the oath is a mere matter ,of form, believing that the law against perjury is a dead letter, does lie? How many defendants m affiliation cases tell the truth on oath ? Has one ever been prosecuted? Plaintiffs, witnesses, defendants, prisoners, quite commonly go into the witness-box prepared for a period of hard lying m the hope of "getting- away with it," and m the belief that it is only a question as to whom the judge or magistrate believes. Swift action by the police,^ swift punishment by magistrates, would stem the rising tide of perjury by impressing on offenders and . the general public that an oath is sacred, tl^at lying on oath is perjury, and that perjury is a crime. They, need the lesson the law can give.'