SECRET COMMISSIONS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10209, 11 April 1911, Page 4

SECRET COMMISSIONS.

No prosecution under the Secret Commissions Act of last year has been undertaken as yet, but we are glad to notice (remarks the Lytteiton Times) that in Auckland, at any rate, public' attention is being drawn to the new law. The evil which the legislation lias attempted to check is unpleasantly widespread. The standard of commercial morality in New Zealand is generally admitted to be high, and, of course, the warning that has been placed before the members of the legal profession by the Law Society in Auckland need not be interpreted as a suggestion that the lawyers have any peculiar tendency to offend against the spirit of the Act; but unfortunately there is reason to believe that many men wiho would shudder at the very thought of deliberate dishonesty, have succumbed to the insidious attacks of the secret : commission. The gift in return for "services rendered" manages to look quite innocent in a score of disguises, and the line that separates right from wrong in the commercial world would be often indistinct enough to puzzle the most analytical mind. The intention of the Legislature will be realised if the community as a whole comes to understand that any element of secrecy in connection with the payment of a commission is, at least, suggestive of illegality.