“EXHIBIT A”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 914, 6 March 1930, Page 14

“EXHIBIT A”

Everything from Needle to Anchor i PRODUCED IN COURTS If all the wide range of articles j produced as evidence in the Police I Court during the last 12 months could j be brought together there should be ; enough to start a young couple in i housekeeping or to stock a general merchant’s shop. This mute evidence is produced inprivate cases and police prosecutions and the list embraces most things from jewellery to jam and from onions to opium. When a man is before the court charged with theft, the article he is alleged to have stolen is produced in evidence whenever possible and as some thieves will steal anything that is not a fixed part of the landscape, that accounts for some of the extraordinary articles that from time to time have made a short appearance at the court. To mention just a few: There have been quite a number of “crooked” gaming devices which have been seized on gala days and exhibited and demonstrated in the court. Frequently detectives have staggered in with loads of goods taken after a raid on opium dens. There have been pipes, lamps, prepared opium and all the other accessories used iu the consumption of the drug. Guns and short iron bars carried by the more dangerous criminals have played their part in building up cases against llieir owners. Jewel lery is common, but. the court was shown something distinctly unusual in that line about a year ago when a large quantity of assorted jewellery was recovered from a muddy riverbed where it had been buried for months following a robbery. It was ruined by the action of slime and water. Though exhibits “A” and "B” pro duced in police prosecutions may be of greater moment in cases, there is more amusement in the articles brought forward in private actions. TEST OF STRENGTH It was about 12 months ago that, in an action over the quality of merchandise, the magistrate was give/* several pairs of silk stockings, produced as evidence, to tear asunder as a test of strength. Perhaps th>brightest efforts were those of twoapplicants for sureties of the peace against their neighbours. One woman, lugging a weighty suitcase to the witness box, opened it to dis close a quantity of stones, broken bottles and ordinary kitchen refuse That was to give the court an idea o r the annoyance to which she had beer subjected by neighbours throwing their rubbish over her back fence. The second applicant was in trouble because his neighbours, so he said, were cutting down the valuable hedge which divided their properties but grew on his land. To show the magistrate the value of the hedge, the applicant cut and frencli-polished a piece of the wood. He became almost •lyrical over the beauty of the grain and the strength of the fibre. Perhaps the palm must go to the old man who complained that he had been assaulted. When giving evidence he dived into a bag and brought out a folded newspaper. Tt. was cov ered with thickly clotted blood. “As soon as I knew that I was going to bleed I held my head over the paper so that your Worship could see how badly I was hurt,” he explained.