NOW FOR REPORT

NZ Truth, Issue 1215, 14 March 1929, Page 7

NOW FOR REPORT

What Will Be Finding of Inquiry Coniniissioner?

■ELSIE WALKER CASE

(From "N.Z.- Truth's" Special Auckland Representative.)

The Commission of Inquiry, conducted by Mr. E. Page, S.M., concerning police methods m the handling of the Elsie Walker case has ceased to occupy the public stage, but the Commissioner's report will be eagerly awaited; ■' *.. \ What the tenor of that report will be remains to be seen, but enough was heard at the inquiry to afford Mr. Page ample material on which to base his conclusions.

THE concluding stages of the inquiry : yielded little fresh interest, princi- i v pal attention being focussed on the < evidence given by Constable Jackson, i . of Te Puke. . ( He was first questioned by Mr. H. i - Cooney, of Te Puke, who was present < on his behalf. ( * The morning of October 2 was first dealt with. That morning the con--4 stable received a telephone message from the Bayly household to say that *" their car and "girl help" were missing. This was early, and. it was not until Mrs. Frank Bayly had rung up the Post Office that she was able to give the number of her car, 27847. Then, about 9 or 9.30 a.m., she rang the Te Puke police station, a second time. ! ( It was, as it happened, the con-: stable's busy day. The court was sit- , ting and there were several defended caaes set down for hearing. "Where did you get that description of the girl from?" asked Mr. Cooney, quoting from a paper m his hand: "Fair hair and blue eyes.".. : ■' V .'. ,^-: '■';"- ■ " ; . . . ■ ■ "From Mrs. Bayly," was the answer. * . Mr. Cooney went on to show that the (constable had obtained a statement A Bad Character? from Mrs. Prank Bayly on October 3. ' In this statement, which was signed by the lady herself, the girl was described , as having "large blue eyes and fair hair. 1 ' Detailing later events, the Te Puke constable told how at 3.40 a.m. on the ' morning of October 6 he had received a telephone message, transmitted from Auckland, as a result of which he went out to the Bayly home about 6.30 a.m. that, morning and saw Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bayly. "I told them," he said, "to ' stay at home, .arid hot to ring up, or tell, anybody about it,' as probably a detective' would be coming down from Auckland , as it was 'a case of murder^" < '..''. Later that day, Detective White rang him up ' from ' Hamilton • to. ask - Jackson .if a detective had arrlyed from Auckland, arid, being answered m < the negative, the Hamilton man, he^ : I stated,' advised him to "get busy himf self." . I That afternoon, he said, he made ( a second visit to the Bayly* home, I and took statements from Mrs. ! Bayly and her son Trevor, and it { was then he found that Mr. Frank , Bayly had left for Auckland. "I received no message from Auck- . land telling me to tell Mr. Frank Bayly to go to^AHP^Vand to identify the'girl," i he replied to ' Mr. Cooney. ,' The constable told Mr. Currie, when t cross-examined. -that he knew none, o£ , the Bayly .family^ perspnallyv arid did U not know . the girl "Elsie Walker by . Bight. When ,he .was out. his wife « ynight receive 1 telephone messages, but did not despatch them. • ' ■ • J Alfred John White, detective, 'of Hamiitoni told the court what he knew * about the, case. ' ' • When.Mr. Currie asked him if he would care to give his evidence -I through his Vown counsel first, the de- . tective: replied: "I have no counsel, Mr. y Currie, arid I am quite prepared to ari- ; fewer any questions." '"' "I made very few inquiries rifyself," v said White, ■ when asked what he had to do with the Elsie Walker case. , Reference: was , then made to the statement of Constable Jackson over

the telephone which . was m dispute, and, Detective White's answer was: "l did not receive any of the additional matter, said to have been sent by Constable Jackson. I have the original note I took here." This note he tepdered and it was examined by Mr. Page. Obtaining the consent of the Commissioner to explain what he had done, he related how he had called on a Mr. Matthews, of Hamilton, whose name was on one of the envelopes found m the. pocket of the coat the dead girl was wearing when found. This call led him to suspect that the dead girl was Elsie Walker, who had been reported missing.

Later, Chief -detective Hammond rang';' him up, and told him there were no suspicious facts; he had been conferring- with the doctor and it was all right. It was m consequence of this that he rang Constable Jackson and told him to tell Mr. Frank Bayly to come to Auckland; also that it> would be as well to see what he could find out about the girl while he was. there. .. Constable Jackson, 'he said, arranged to ring- him between 1 and 2 p.m. The constable rang him after 3' p.m.- '■ When Mr. Currie mentioned the purport of the telephone message, Detective White replied: "I think we did discuss the matter a little." . • ; ' As Counsel persisted m his questions, Whjte agreed that he did receive; some communication from Constable Jackson/that a certain person was a bad character, and that three addresses Which Young Man? were .mentioned where he might be found, and that: he was known to Sergeant Daly. . '.'I put it to you that the very message itself cried out that, a certain person should be seen at once?" asked Mr. Cooney. .-■■:. "It was . for. .Auckland to handle; what I wou^d have done- is a different matter," replied Detective White. Following further lengthy evidence, which did not open up any new ground of inquiry, the Commission was adjourned. ; . It is expected that the finding of the Commissioner will be made known on or before April 10. At the express • wish of Mr. Page, the Te Puke constable was recalled m relation to his telephone message as to .the urgency of a certain young . man being seen at Auckland. Mr. Page asked the^ constable if he was quite positive that the telephone message made particular reference, to that fact? "Yes; it referred »almost exclusively to that young man," said Jackson. At the close of the evidence, Mr. V. R. Meredith, Avho acted 'as Crown Solicitor at the inquest into the death of Elsie Walker, stood up at the back of the courtroom, arid asked if he was to be permitted to give his statement m reply to what he had referred to during, the previous week as a veiled attack upon himself and his method of conducting the inquest. Mr. Page replied that he had given the question his, careful consideration and he had come to the conclusion that he could not hear any evidence on that aspect of the matter — it was not with-, m the^scopo of the inquiry. The Commission was then adjourned.. ' ' ■ . . . . ■' ' t