MAGISTRATE’S COURT

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 13138, 12 September 1940, Page 5

MAGISTRATE’S COURT

LONG LIST OP TRAFFIC BREACHES

NOMINAL FIXES IMPOSED

Resulting from the recent checkup by department, county and borough inspectors on warrants of fitness and drivers’ licenses, a long list of prosecutions awaited the attention of the Stipendiary Magistrate, Mr. E. L. Walton, at the monthly sitting of the Tauranga Magistrate’s Court yesterday. In all cases nominal fines of 10s. with costs were imposed. The Ministry of Transport Department Inspector, Mr. R. S. Gardiner, proceeded against the following for the omission of renewing warrants of fitness: Joseph Barney, Henry Bragg, Ernest Harrington Gibson, Reginald James, Sybil Clarissa Mitchell, James Leonard McCullough, Donald Armstrong McLean, William Ohia, Mary Ramage, Richard Short. The Tauranga Box Company were fined ss. and costs for failing to have a warrant to cover a trailer.

Charges of having no lights and failing to give way to traffic on the right were preferred by Inspector Gardiner against Barry Hastings Budd. The defendant, through Mr. J. K. B. Lusk, entered a plea of guilty to both charges. A fine of 10s. and costs was imposed.

Nominal fines of ss. with costs were also imposed on Albert William Hubert and Mary Myrtle Lowe for failing to have current drivers’ licenses. For inefficient brakes on his motor vehicle, a fine of £ 2 and costs was imposed on William Verner Oliver. It was stated by Inspector Gardiner that he called on the defendant tc stop while undertaking the check-up on fitness warrants and licenses, and noticed that Oliver reached for the handbrake to bring his vehicle to rest. On investigation it was found that the foot brake was not working and the hand brake was not sufficient to comply with the regulations. The Tauranga County Inspector proceeded against Charles Corfield, D. D. Dendy, Neil Larsen, James Mitchell, Tom Rikiti, Gladys Edith Vincent for failing to have warrants of fitness and. against John Carruthers for failing to have current driver’s license. Similar fines of 10s. and ss. respectively with costs were imposed. The charge against F. T. Sprague for failing to carry a warrant of fitness was dismissed when it wag found that it was due to the oversight of a motor firm that the warrant was not displayed in the car.

For operating an unlicensed heavy vehicle A. B. Seales was fined £ 1 and costs. It was stated by Mr. Lusk, who appeared for the defendant, that the truck was used for logging in the bush, and the charge had been preferred when the truck had used a short stretch on the county road' The truck, he stated, was now fully licensed.

The Borough Inspector, Mr. H. L. Potter proceeded against H. P. Butts and Cecil Rolandson, for failing to carry current warrants of fitness, Harold Collins for failing to have a warrant and a driver’s license, and George Walker ‘for failing to have a

license. Pines with costs in each case were 10s., 10s., and ss. and ss.

Charges of exceeding, the 30 m.p.h. speed limit within the Borough and also for passing on in intersection, were preferred by Inspector Potter against John Peter Barron Speed. It was stated b,y the Inspector that Speed passed him on the. intersection of 10th Ave Hue and Devonport Road accelerating then to a speed of 50 miles an hour continuing on Devonport Road, Speed was fined £ 3 and costs on the first charge and £ 1 and costs on the second charge. ,

Police Prosecutions

Wetea Faulkner, a Maori aged 22, appeared on a charge of stealing a carton of beer valued at 18s. the property of J. A. Page. It was stated by Sergeant Edwards that the carton of beer was placed. outside hotel shortly before 6 p.m. and disappeared almost immediately afterwards. Subsequent investigations ’revealed that the beer had been cached temporarily'- by Faulkner, who at first denied any knowledge of the theft. This was the first occasion the defendant had appeared before the Court.

Faulkner, who pleaded guilty, was convicted and fined £3. For breaking a life prohibition order imposed in September 1933, Mataripo Toi- Toi, a Maori from Matakana, was fined £ 1 and costs. It was stated in evidence by Constable Watt who had arrested the defendant on the Strand in an intoxicated that Toi Toi had previously broken this order.

Harold Frank Julian of Otumoetai appeared on a charge of having in his possession an unregistered firearm. Sergeant Edwards prosecuting, stated that the explanation given was that the rifle, which had been thrown away by a Maori near Rotorua, had been reclaimed by Julian and kept for spare parts. From investigation it had been found that the rifle never had been registered. Julian, who pleaded guilty, was fined £1 and costs with two weeks in which to pay.

Dangerous Driving

John C. Baxter was charged with the dangerous driving of a motor vehicle. Evidence was given by Roy Tasman Harrison, a railway employee, who stated that on the day of the offence he was riding his' bicycle down Cliff Road when the defendant passed him, and without any indication turned sharply into Marsh Street. Harrison stated that he collided with the vehicle and was carried for a distance of 15 feet into Marsh Street. It was fully 50 yards distance along the street. before Baxter stopped when called upon to do so. Harrison stated that his bicycle also suffered from the accident.

Baxter, who did not appear in court, was fined £ 2 and costs.