"WHAT DOES IT MATTER?"

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 208, 2 September 1932, Page 3

"WHAT DOES IT MATTER?"

FIRE ENGINES AND TRAFFIC SOMES. MAGISTRATE DISMISSES CHARGE. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) INVERCARGILL, Thursday. A ease of interest to fire brigades came before Mr. E. C. Lcvvey, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court yesterday, when the superintendent of the Invercargill Fire Brigade, Frank Sidney Simpson, as the employer of the driver of an engine, pleaded not guilty to a charge of failing to keep to the left of a traffic indicator. The matter was originally brought under the notice of the Fire Board by the Mayor, who stated at a meeting of the board that he had received a complaint regarding the action of the driver in attending a call on April 27. After discussion at the meeting, it was decided to defend any action which might be brought by the traffic inspector. During the hearing the magistrate referred to the regulation which stated that all traffic had to stop when the engine came on the scene. He suggested that if the road were clear, as it ought to be clear, and the engine had the absolute right of way, what did it matter if the engine went round traffic domes, since these were for ordinary motorists? • In giving his decision, the magistrate said the Court had little doubt on the legal aspect alone that the superintendent had not committed an offence under that clause, and the information would be dismissed.