Drunkenness:

Of the minority of Pakehas arrested for drunkenness most were alcoholics who were unemployed and referred for medical treatment. On the other hand, the Maoris and other Polynesians charged with this "offence' were in most cases young, employed and first offenders.

• A Samoan was brought into the dock and charged with drunkenness. He had been in New Zealand a very short time and understood no English at all. When this became obvious, the magistrate explained the charge to the man—in English—and very kindly entered a Not Guilty plea on his behalf. The man just stood in the page 7 dock shuffling nervously and smiling vaguely. Although it is claimed that defended hearings do not take place on Saturday mornings, this one went ahead without any hesitation. The defendant had no lawyer (the duty solicitor scheme had not started at this time). The police called a constable to give evidence against he the man, which he did—in English. The magistrate then explained to the man—in English—that he could now cross examine the police witness. The man still stood there, saying and comprehending nothing. The magistrate then saw that there was no defence, found the charge proved and convicted and fined the man. The man left the dock having understood nothing (except perhaps, that justice is only available in Auckland to those who are white and speak English).

This report has been compiled by members of the Auckland Committee on Racism and Discrimination (ACORD) and was written by R.A. Galbreath and O.R.W. Sutherland. P.O. Box 47155, Ponsonby

Obscene Language:

• A young non-Maori Polynesian was arrested during a "routine patrol visit to a taxi rank". His offence was to say "piss off " to the police. He was held over night in the cells and pleaded Not Guilty the next day and was remanded.
• A young Samoan was standing in a crowded bar and was being pestered by a pakeha for a loan of some money. After a while the Samoan got annoyed and told the Pakeha to "fuck off". He was immediately arrested by a constable who happened to be nearby, and was convicted and fined.
• On a "routine visit to the Ponsonby Club Hotel" the Task Force arrested five people for using obscene language. There were four Polynesian men and one European woman. One of the Polynesian men was asked a question by police, which he answered. He was asked the same question again by the police and gave the same answer. They asked a third time, and again were given the same answer. On the fourth rime the man's patience was exhausted and he swore at the police officer. He was immediately arrested. In court the police did not deny this harrassment, but the man was still convicted and fined $40. For this man, and for the three other men and the woman who was arrested for obscene language at the same time, the police said in evidence that "there were some women present".

Offensive Behaviour:

• Two well-dressed Pakehas, aged about 30, appeared in court charged with offensive behaviour (urinating in a public place). They had both been bailed the night before by the police. One pleaded guilty and the other asked for a remand without plea. Both were remanded and the magistrate very generously granted suppression of name to both without even being asked to.
• Numerous Maoris and other Polynesians were also arrested for urinating in public. None of them were bailed by the police none of them had their names suppressed.

Assault:

• There were very few cases of assault heard during our survey. One which will become another statistic of 'street violence' was this:
• A seventeen year-old Maori girl was arrested by police for lightly kicking her boyfriend in the bottom as he was getting into a taxi. She was arrested and charged with assault. The next day she was convicted and fined.
• We have for some time been highly critical of the lack of interpreters in the courts, and our experience in the past weeks when very many non-Maori Polynesians have been appearing confirms this view. But one magistrate had a novel approach to the problem. He didn't bother to ensure that competent, paid, interpreters were present in his court, he did it another way:
• A Samoan was convicted and fined $5 for drunkenness. The next defendant was also a Samoan, but one who couldn't speak or understand English. The magistrate then called back the first Samoan and had him sworn in as an interpreter, after which his $5 fine was deleted for his services to the court.
• Another magistrate tackled the problem a different way. A Samoan defendant was charged with drunkenness. He could not understand English and as before, no interpreter was present. This magistrate, not bothering about the need for interpreters to be impartial, invited a Samoan police constable to act as interpreter, which he willingly did.

These cases are typical of dozens. In many cases non-Maori Polynesian defendants were remanded with re-porting clauses explained to them in English by the Magistrate. They were all liable to arrest if they did not report precisely as instructed, yet no-one bothered to ascertain whether or not they understood what those instructions were. We found that obvious difficulties in understanding English, and therefore the conduct of the hearing, were apparent in at least half of the Task Force arrest cases.