Charged With

Two High Officials Charged With Contempt of Court

From Our Own Correspondent

P. Moresby. Sept. 4.

A MOST extraordinary sequence of events came to head on August 29, in the Supreme Court at Moresby, when there were presented to Mr. Justice Kelly two of the leading officials of the Terri tory, Mr. Claude Champion (Acting Assistant Government Secretary) and Mr. Frank Champion (Acting District Commissioner at Samarai).

Before the Court was a motion that the two brothers be committed to prison for contempt of court.

The following is what had hap pened.

At Samarai, on August 6, Mr.

Justice Bignold sentenced Lancelot Harcourt Wilkinson, a well-known trader, to 18 months’ imprisonment for stealing five cartons of fish cut lets, the property of the Adminis tration.

While awaiting trial, Wilkinson had been kept in custody in the house of Police Inspector J. A.

Phillips. There is no European gaol in Samarai. As soon as Wilkinson was sentenced, arrangements were made to send him next day by Cata lina to Bomana Gaol, Port Moresby.

On an appeal by the sub-branch of the RSL, the Administrator gave permission for Wilkinson to remain in Samarai for one week, to finalise "business matters.

The police inspector refused further to accommodate Wilkinson, as he had not been behaving him self.

THIS created an awkward prob lem. There was no place, other than the native gaol, where Wilkinson could be housed.

In custody. There were urgent radiophone discussions between Ac ting DC and Acting GS; but the conversations were not clear, owing to distortion. As a result, it was decided to allow Wilkinson, during this week granted by the Adminis trator, to live in his own home on the little island of Samarai, and re port daily to the police.

However, next day the police inspector found a new boy-house where Wilkinson could be kept in custody, and he was imprisoned there. He was out of gaol for 24 hours.

When Mr. Justice Bignold heard of the release of Wilkinson from custody he put in process a con tempt of court motion against

Claude Champion and Frank Allan Champion. Mr. Justice Kelly, when reviewing the case, commented that had his fellow-judge not taken this action he would have been failing in his duty.

The Acting Crown Law Officer, Mr. W. Watkins, appeared for the Messrs. Champion; and, having heard him, and the brothers’ affi davits, Mr. Justice Kelly said he was satisfied an innocent mistake had been made by District Com missioner Champion, and that Government Secretary Champion had taken such steps as could reasonably be expected of him. He condemned the absence of gaol premises in such a place as Sama rai; and suggested that District and

Police officials should not be ex pected to add to their normal duties the incarceration of prisoners not otherwise provided for.

He then quashed the motion, and the Acting Assistant Government Secretary, temporarily handling the duties of Government Secretary, and the Acting District Commissioner for the Samarai Division, stepped from the shadow of a possible com mittal to gaol without a stain on their characters. (Since the foregoing article was written, there has been a further extraordinary development in what is now known as the Wilkinson- Bock case. For details, see an article elsewhere in this issue.)