Evidence Act Amendment Act (No. 2) 1967 (WA)

No. 69.] Evidence (No. 2). [1967.

EVIDENCE (No. 2).

No. 69 of 1967.

AN ACT to amend the Evidence Act, 1906-1966.

[Assented to 5th December, 1967.]

RE it enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent B Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

Short title

and citation. 1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Evidence Act

Amendment Act (No. 2), 1967.

(2) In this Act the Evidence Act, 1906-1966, is

referred to as the principal Act.

(3) The principal Act as amended by this Act may

be cited as the Evidence Act, 1906-1967.

1967.] Evidence (No. 2). [No. 69.

2. The principal Act is amended by adding after IV:meets-

section 79A the following sections-

79B. In sections 79C and 79D of this Act

(a)	"document" includes books, maps, plans, drawings and photographs, and any device by means of which information is recorded or stored;
(b)	"statement" includes any representa- tion of fact or opinion whether made in words or otherwise;
(c)	"proceedings" includes arbitrations

and references; and "court" shall be

construed accordingly.

direct oral evidence of a fact would be afogertaelin 79C. (1) In any civil proceedings where Admissibility

admissible, any statement made by a person in evidence as a document and tending to establish the fact =set In shall, on production of the document, be

admissible as evidence of that fact

(a) if the maker of the statement either

(i)   had personal knowledge of the matters dealt with by the statement; or

(ii)    made the statement (in so far as the matters dealt with thereby are not within his personal knowledge) in the performance of a duty to record information supplied whether directly or indirectly by persons who had, or may reasonably be supposed to have had, personal knowledge of the matters dealt with in the information they supplied; and

(b) if the maker of the statement is called as a witness.

(2) The condition that the maker of the statement shall be called as a witness need not be satisfied if he is dead, or unfit by reason of his bodily or mental condition to attend as a

No. 69.] Evidence (No. 2). [1967.

witness, or if he is out of the State and it is not reasonably practicable to s e c u r e his attendance, or if all reasonable efforts to identify or find him have been made without success, or where no party to the proceedings who would have the right to cross-examine him requires him to be called as a witness.

(3) The court may at any stage of the proceedings order that the statement shall be admissible as evidence or may, without any such order having been made, admit such a statement in evidence, notwithstanding

(a)	that the statement is tendered by the party calling the maker of the state- ment;
(b)	that the maker of the statement is available but is not called as a witness;
(c)	that the original document is lost or mislaid or destroyed, or is not produced, if in lieu of it there is produced a copy of it or of the material part of it certified to be a true copy in such a manner as may be specified in the order or as the court may approve, as the case may be.

(4) For the purpose of deciding whether or not a statement is admissible as evidence by virtue of this section, the court may draw any reasonable inference from the form or contents of the document in which the statement is contained, or from any other circumstances, and may, in deciding whether or not a person is fit to attend as a witness, act on a certificate purporting to be the certificate of a registered medical practitioner and the court may in its discretion reject the statement notwithstanding that the requirements of this section are satisfied with respect thereto, if for any reason it appears to it to be inexpedient in the interests of justice that the statement should be admitted.

1967.] Evidence (No. 2). [No. 69.

79D. (1) In estimating the weight, if any, to Zeght,,

be attached to a statement rendered admissible "'denc°-

as evidence by section 79C of this Act, regard

shall be had to all the circumstances from which

any inference can reasonably be drawn as to

the accuracy or otherwise of the statement, and

in particular to the question whether or not the

statement was made contemporaneously with

the occurrence or existence of the facts stated,

and to the question whether or not the maker

of the statement had any incentive to conceal

or misrepresent facts.

(2) For the purpose of any rule of law or practice requiring evidence to be corroborated or regulating the manner in which uncorrobor- ated evidence is to be treated, a statement rendered admissible as evidence by section 79C of this Act shall not be treated as corroboration of evidence given by the maker of the statement.

Admissibility

79E. (1) In any criminal proceedings where direct oral evidence of a fact would be	of certain
trade orbusiness
admissible, any statement contained in a	records.
document and tending to establish that fact shall, on production of the document, be admissible as evidence of that fact if

(a)	the document is, or forms part of, a record relating to any trade or business and compiled, in the course of that trade or business, from information supplied (whether directly or indirectly) by persons who have, or may reasonably be supposed to have, personal knowledge of the matters dealt with in the information they supply; and
(b)	the person who supplied the informa- tion recorded in the statement in question is dead, or beyond the seas, or unfit by reason of his bodily or mental condition to attend as a witness, or cannot with reasonable diligence be identified or found, or cannot reason- ably be expected (having regard to the time which has elapsed since he

No. 69.] Evidence (No. 2). [1967.

supplied the information and to all the circumstances) to have any recollection of the matters dealt with in the information he supplied.

(2) For the purpose of deciding whether or not a statement is admissible as evidence by virtue of this section, the court may draw any reasonable inference from the form or content of the document in which the statement is contained, and may, in deciding whether or not a person is fit to attend as a witness, act on a certificate purporting to be a certificate of a fully registered medical practitioner and the court may in its discretion reject the statement notwithstanding that the requirements of this section are satisfied with respect thereto, if for any reason it appears to it to be inexpedient in the interests of justice that the statement should be admitted.

In estimating the weight, if any, to be attached to a statement admissible as evidence by virtue of this section regard shall be had to all the circumstances from which any inference can reasonably be drawn as to the accuracy or otherwise of the statement, and, in particular, to the question whether or not the person who supplied the information recorded in the statement did so contemporaneously with the occurrence or existence of the facts stated, and to the question whether or not that person, or any person concerned with making or keeping the record containing the statement, had any incentive to conceal or misrepresent the facts.

(3)

(4) In this section "statement" includes any representation of fact, whether made in words or otherwise, "document" includes books, maps, plans, drawings and photographs, and any device by means of which information is recorded or stored and "business" includes any public transport, public utility or similar undertaking carried on by the Crown or a statutory body and also includes any municipality.