By John McKechnie AO, KC
The whole trouble occurred through a question put by a Magistrate which would have been better not to have been put at all.
Mr Albert Amos Kidd fought with honour during the Great War, had been awarded the Military Cross and had shaken the hand of his Majesty King George.
After the war, he returned to his trade in the Gascoyne District as a soft drinks maker. So he was much aggrieved by the question posed while he was defending an action in the Carnarvon Local Court.
As a former military man, Mr Kidd’s first, though regrettable impulse, was to return fire.
This he did in the form of a letter to the Magistrate, Fergus Finbar Horgan, written during an adjournment:
F. F. Horgan, Esq.
Dear Sir,-I did not think that I would live to be so mortified as I was to-day in your Court. Publicly accused of being a party capable of sinking to the depths of so sordid a crime as bribery-against a decrepit woman-to obviate payment of a paltry £20. When His Majesty King George gripped my hand and decorated me with the Military Cross, I did not think it would ever be my dolour to meet one of His Servants capable of so base an act as to prostitute our Dear Emblem-the Scales of Justice. Prematurely judged. British Law is founded on facts fortunately, when administered unbiasedly. To-morrow I have to defend my most priceless possession-my good name-and I will defend it while I have breath in my body.
I am, Sir, yours faithfully. A. A. Kidd, Lieut. M.C.
The Magistrate was unimpressed, to put it mildly.
He fined Mr Kidd £10. Mr Kidd was not pleased and it took some time before he was taken to the cells where he remained until the fine was paid some hours later.
The Magistrate also banned the letter from publication.
Mr Kidd was not going to take this lying down. His honour was at stake, or so he believed.
So he posted a copy of the letter in a public place in Carnarvon.
If the Magistrate was angry before, he was incandescent now.
Mr Kidd was hauled before him and after further insults from Mr Kidd, the Magistrate sentenced him to 14 days imprisonment.
But as the full court discovered, the Magistrate had made an error. The sentence imposed was for two offences, not one.
As Justice Draper put it, ‘The Magistrate unfortunately, fortunately perhaps for Mr Kidd, took the wrong procedure’.
The court agreed on the result but as sometimes happens, got there by different routes. The Chief Justice thought the publication was not in the face of the court and the Magistrate had no jurisdiction.
Justice Draper thought it was contempt but the wrong procedure.
Justice Rooth thought he would wait until the question arose before opining if it was a contempt.
As for Mr Kidd, he continued to live a quiet life in Carnarvon manufacturing aerated waters. Six years later, he and his wife took a holiday in the South.
On 20 May 1938, his many friends were pleased to learn that after four weeks of serious illness, Mr Kidd was now convalescent and well on the road to recovery (Northern Times).
Unfortunately, recovery was short lived and he died on 27 July 1938.
As for the Magistrate, he had only been in Carnarvon for a short time.
However, he was busy with a Gilbertian Poo Bah list of duties as acting stipendiary Magistrate for the Gascoyne District Magistrate of the Carnarvon Local Court, Chairman of the Gascoyne Licensing Court, Warden of the Ashburton and Gascoyne Goldfields Treasury Paymaster and Clerk of Courts.
F F Horgan returned to Perth in 1929 to take up the position as Special Magistrate to the Children’s Court, where he served faithfully for many years.
He lived to nearly 100, dying at the age of 97 in 1965.
(Adapted from Kidd v Horgan (1930 32 WAR 117)
