Evidence Act Amendment Act 1921 (WA)

1921.] Evidence. [No. 19.

EVIDENCE.

12° GEO. V., No. XIX.

No. 19 of 1921.

AN ACT to amend the Evidence Aet, 1906.

[Assented to 29th November, 1921.E

this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of	i3E it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, byCouncil and Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, inand with the advice and consent of the Legislative
the same, as follows:—

1. This Act may be cited as the Evidence Act Amendment Short title.

Act, 1921.

2, The following section is hereby inserted between sec- tions forty-one and forty-two of the Evidence Act, 1906, that is to say:-

41a. (1.) On the prosecution of any person for the Evidence 0t ownership in

stealing of any property in or from any vessel, barge, or ease: relat ing

boat, or from any dock, wharf, or quay, or from any ,t7olelthips,

store or shed used in connection with or adjoining any "ma"'

such clock, wharf, or quay, or for receiving any such pro- g.org.,,,,Lx„°.

perty, knowing it to have been so stolen, or -for having	of 1920,
on his person or in any place or conveying in any manner anything which may be reasonably suspected of being so stolen

(a) evidence may be given of any writing, printing, or marks upon the said property without producing the original writing, printing, or marks, or re- quiring the production thereof by notice or other- wise; and

No. 19.] Evidence. [1921.

(b) any apparently genuine document purporting to be the bill of lading, manifest, shipping receipt, delivery order, specification, schedule, packing list, or invoice relating to the staid property, or to property which from the description thereof in the document or from the writing, printing, or marks thereon, or on any package containing the same as detailed in the document, coupled with any other relevant circumstances, may be reasonably assumed to be the same as the pro- perty the subject of the prosecution, shall be ad- missible in evidence on production and without

further proof, and shall be prima facie evidence

of the particulars and facts contained therein and that the ownership of the property, the sub- ject matter of the prosecution, is in the consignee referred to in the document or his assignee.

(2.) In deciding whether any property described as aforesaid may be reasonably assumed to be the same as the property the subject of the prosecution, regard shall be had to the source from which the document was pro- duced, and the circumstances of its receipt or custody by the person producing it, or from whom it was obtained for the purposes of the prosecution.

(3.) It shall be no objection to the admissibility in evi- dence of any such document as aforesaid that the state- ment of the place in or from which the stealing took place forms no part of the charge, if the evidence adduced .on the prosecution indicates that the stealing did in fact take place in or from a place such as is hereinbefore men- tioned.