MAGISTRATE’S COURT

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26198, 23 August 1950, Page 9

MAGISTRATE’S COURT

TUESDAY (Before Mr Rex C. Abernethy, S.M.) SHIP DESERTER SENTENCED “If you are as decent as these papers suggest, the punishment will not leave a mark on you,” said the Magistrate, sentencing Leslie James Ratcliffe, a seaman, to 14 days’ imprisonment for deserting from the Port Jackson at Wellington on ° Counselfor’llatcllSfe, Mr B. G. Dingwall, produced testimonials to Ratcliffe’s character from his employer and from a Christchurch businessman. Mr Dingwall said Ratcliffe had married a New Zealand girl and now had a child. He had led an honest and industrious life since his desertion, he said. CYCLIST FINED “Well, it will be expensive for him," said the Magistrate, fining lan Arthur Hine £1 for failing to stop when directed and £1 for cycling at night without a light. “Had the traffic officer bden of smaller stature I do not like to think what might have happened to him,” said Senior Patrol Officer P. Lunn, commenting on Patrol Officer L. J. Wilson’s description of his struggle with Hine. In evidence, Patrol Officer Wilson said that Hine had failed to stop when witness hailed him on Colombo street. Witness had stopped a passing breakdown van and asked the driver to follow Hine, who had turned into Sandyford street. He saw Hine, on foot, going into house No. 53 in the street and overpowered him at the rear of the property. Mr Wilson said he took Hine to the Sydenham Police Station to get his name and address. It was foupd there that Hine had thrown his bicycle over a 6ft galvanised iron fence. TRAFFIC CASES Other traffic charges brought by the Christchurch City Council were dealt with as follows:

Failing to keep windscreen clean and clear: George Jeffery Anderton, costs only (no warrant of fitness, 10s). Failing to give way: Harold Graham Davis, costs only. No driver’s licence: Vincent Batchelor, 10s; Betty Beckett, costs only (no warrant of fitness, costs only); Eric Tamate Bevan, 10s (unlicensed vehicle, 10s); Maurice Charles Brown, 5s (unlicensed vehicle, ss); Andre Bruck, 10s; Desmond Russell de Ganneh, costs only (unlicensed vehicle, costs only; no warrant of fitness, costs only); Walter Frederick Glue, 10s (bn? licensed vehicle, 10s); William McHardie Percy, 10s (unlicensed vehicle, 10s); Ernest Henry Pidgeon, 15s; Bernard Shaw, 10s (unlicensed vehicle, 10s; no warrant of fitness, 10s); Alfred Joseph White, 5s (unlicensed vehicle, ss); Henry James Winter, 10s (unlicensed vehicle 10s). No warrant of fitness: Keith Graham Chalklen, 10s; Frederick Francis Dawson. 10s; James Patrick Estall, 10s (no driver’s licence, 10s); Thomas Cole Hewertson, 10s; Anthony Peter McVeigh, 10s. Exceeding speed limit:. Max Alexander Brown, £2; Percy Jarden, £5; James Percy Kissel, £1 10s; Garth Minson, £1 10s (no driver’s licence, 10S); James Buxton Nicholls, £2; Kevin Patrick Prendergast, £1 10s (no warrant of fitness, 10s). No silencer on motor-cycle: John Solomon Butson, 15s; Charles Henry Arthur Hooper, 15s (not displaying L plates, costs only; no warrant of fitness, 10s). Driving without due care and attention: Hubert de Rie Flesher, £2; Jack Vernon Head, 10s. Driving at a speed which might have been dangerous: Alan Jackson, £6. Parking offences: Alan Ernest Barrell, 15s; Cwen Victor Beaumont, 20s; Robin Owen Beaumont, 10s; Herbert Attwood Booth, 20s; Sylvia Brown, 20s; Henry Ray Burns, 15s; John Kempthorne Collins, costs only; : Margaret Christine Curtis, 15s: John Lewis Mitchell Hume, 20s; Douglas Johnston, 20s; Willoughby Osborne Kesteven, 20s; Iris Mary Martin, 10s; Maurice James Martin, 10s; Archibald Dodds Mclvor, £1 10s (no warrant of fitness, 10s); Warwick John Richard Peers, ss; Austin Ernest. Prince, 20s; Robert Hayes Reid, 10s; William Stanley Seed, 10s; Ladislaus Spitzer, 20s; William John Taylor, 15s; Robert William Wilson, convicted and discharged (no driver’s licence, ss; unlicensed motorvehicle, convicted and discharged). Unlicensed vehicle: George Samuel Pratt, ss. Penalties were imposed as follows in cases brought by the Transport Department : Exceeding speed limit: George Kirkpatrick, £2; Stephen Gordon McGuire, £1 10s; Douglas Kennedy Neal, £2 10s; William Henry Ure, £1 10s. Driving at a speed which might have been dangerous: Wallace Garth Robinson, £4. Insufficient lights: James Osborne Stevens, £2. No warrant of fitness: John William Thomson, 15s (no rear light, 10s). CIVIL CASES (Before Mr R. M. Grant, S.M.) CLAIM FOR DAMAGES A claim by Donald Gordon Greig (Mr W. F. Tracy) against Arthur James Barrett (Mr J. K. Moloney) for £llO damages arising from a motor accident, on the ground of negligence, was adjourned sine die. Barrett said that he was learning to drive when the- accident happened, and a friend was with him in the car giving him instructions. The Magistrate said that the question seemed to be one of allocating responsibility for the negligence of the learner driver. He said that he would adjourn the case to give counsel the opportunity of finding out whether or hot a case should properly lie also against the instruc or. SUSPENDED POSSESSION ORDER The hearing of an adjourned claim by G. A. Mazey (Mr H. P. Smith) for possession of premises ‘at 16 Cecil street, Waltham, against M. M. Hunter and A. R. Hunter (Mr B. J. Drake), was completed. The Magistrate made an order for possession, with 'the provision that the warrant be not issued before September 22. An order for costs was made in favour of the plaintiff. „