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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 10. 23rd May 1973

Distress

Distress

Nor did it matter to the magistrate that Amanda Russell had been waving special proceedings notices in front of the truck which was carting tenant's furniture away under Rama's supervision. Amanda had been called to the scene by distressed, crying tenants, who understood nothing of what was going on except that Rama's bailiffs were bullying them. Amanda had legal advice that Rama could not seize striking tenants' goods while he had court actions pending against them, and she was trying to impress this upon the driver. Peter Amarat Rama came over to her and in a gloating, pushy tone asked her to move away. Rama later boasted that he had deliberately provoked Amanda in order to get her out of the way.

As it turned out, Amanda's legal advice was wrong and Rama's actions were sanctioned by law. In retrospect, it was foolish for a member of the Tenants' Protection Association to have imagined for a moment that tenants are protected by law — they aren't. The average lease is two pages of rules for tenants with a free hand and no stipulations for the landlord. The law books themselves are full of landlords laws and offer little hope for oppressed tenants.

Drawing of a judge