HEAVY DAMAGES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 69, 21 March 1916, Page 7

HEAVY DAMAGES.

*. t - ' £ 600 FOR INJURED CYCLIST. 1 JfOTOK-CAR A*D MOTOR CYCLE COLLIDE. '.'ln the Wellington Supreme Court on Saturday, his Honor Mr. Justice Chapnan gave judgment on the legal aspects 0 f the case Francis J. R. Heath v. Dr. C. PrenJergast Knight, in which the plaintiff claimed £ 1000 damages for injuries sustained by himself and his motor cycle through a collision with Dr. Knight's inotof-car. The jury had returned a verdict for the plaintiff for £025, but the case was adjourned in order that defendant's counsel might raise two questions—(l) Whether the defendant was entitled to notice of action pursuant to section 04 of the Defence Act, IMp; and (2) whether such notice had been given. His Honor said that the defendant uas a captain in the motor-car section of the New Zealand Motor Service Corps, which was part of the Territorial Force, and came under the regulations dated May 31. gazetted June 4, 1915. As the corps was not mobilised for war tfhe regulations applicable to peace times applied to its members. Regulation 652 stated that requisition for the service of the corps would be served on the district senior officer, or the officer acting for him, by an officer of the headquarters staff. It would not be proved that such a requisition was| made, but the defendant no doubt assumed that it had. He received a telephone message, which he understood to j ub an order, to proceed to the Alexandra Barracks and take two general officers, to one of the camps, and he was on his I way by the regular route to the barracks when his car struck the plaintiff's j motor cycle. Regulation OSS provided I for an allowance for the use of cars, and that allowance the defendant received; while regulation 690 provided that officers of the corps would be subject to the regulations relating to discipline prescribed for the Territorial Force. His Honor held that notice of action had been given, but that in the correspondence there had been no reference to the damage to the motor cycle, and that defendant was entitled tonotice of action. He approved of the action being brought against the defendant, but be thought that the jury's verdict should be reduced to £600. Counsel for the plaintiff accepted this suggestion, and his Honor gave judgment accordingly, with costs according to scale. * °