Harding next makes Ross, after seeing Gladys Wain home, himself take train for Footscray, though he fixes the time at about an hour earlier than it was in fact shown, by overwhelming independent testimony, to have been. He also makes Ross say that he created a diversion on the tram in order to call attention to himself, and have the conductor and other witnesses to prove an alibi. The closest inquiries by the police, which it may be assumed were made, failed to disclose the faintest evidence of this “diversion.” In fact, it was absolutely negatived by the three men, merely casual acquaintances, who travelled home with Ross that night. Not only that, but the defence knows exactly how this story of the row on the tram originated. A witness named Patterson, on hearing of Ross’s arrest, went voluntarily to the local police station to say that he had travelled home with Ross that night on the tram. He was questioned as to the date, to see whether he was making any mistake; and by way of fixing the actual night he said that he remembered it because there had been a disturbance in the fish shop where he was having supper with another man in Footscray, before taking the tram for Maidstone, on which he saw Ross. The local police appear to have misunderstood what he said, and reported the disturbance as taking place on the tram. The Ross brothers, Ronald and Stanley, were cross-examined as to whether they themselves had not called on the motorman and conductor of the tram, and themselves indicated that a disturbance had taken place on it. The cross-examination only served, once again, to show the honesty of their belief in their brother’s case, for it revealed that they went to the tram office to find the names of the conductor and motorman who had charge of the tram Colin travelled by, to ascertain if they had noticed Colin on the tram, and to get, if possible, the names of any passengers on it.