BEGAN TO SING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 201, 25 August 1937, Page 8

BEGAN TO SING.

ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL INTOXICATED FARMER FINED. A Northcote farmer who, when roused from sleep while in his motor van in Queen Street, Northcote, last evening, warbled a stave or so, and was arrested by _ Constable Iloran, appeared in the Police Court this morning when he pleaded guilty to a charge of being in a state of intoxication. He was Albert Thomas Booth, aged 43, for whom Mr. Noble appeared. . Sub-Inspector Fox said the constable found Booth's van on ail angle in Queen Street,* Northcote, about 6.30 last evening. There were no lights on the vehicle. "Booth; was asleep at the wheel and when the constable shook and awakened him, he commenced to sing," added the sub-inspector. "He has not previously come under the notice of the police." Booth, said Mr. Noble, had a wife and five children. He had a small farm and sold poultry, earning a meagre living. He was a man who could not take a great amount of liquor as he suffered from the effects of gas while at the war. Mrs. Booth usually accompanied him on the van, but yesterday she was not with him. • Booth tried to obtain the services of another man to drive his van, but he had evidently dropped off to sleep before the relief driver arrived. Telling Booth that had the circumstances been different he would certainly have ordered a substantial penalty, Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M., imposed a fine of £5 and cancelled his driving license for 12 months.