MAGISTRATE’S COURT

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27374, 12 June 1954, Page 9

MAGISTRATE’S COURT

FRIDAY (Before Mr F. F. Reid, \S.M.) TRAFFIC OFFENCES

The following persons were prosecuted by the police for breaches of * the traffic regulations and' penalties were imposed as stated: Using a motor vehicle without due care.—Alfred John Hilary Burt, £2; Robert Henry Hayman, £4. No warrant of fitness: John Owen Buzzard, 10s. Failing to give way: Trevor John Catterm ole, £2; Leo Douglas Humphries, £3 (no driver’s licence, £1); Herbert James Claude Rogefs, £3 (no warrant of fitness, 10s); Samuel Henry Rowland, £3. Insufficient lights on vehicle: Clifford Fox, 30s. LICENCE SUSPENDED William Hudson Fisher pleaded guilty to driving a motor-car on Ferry road on February 13 in a manner which might have been dangerous to ; other persons. He was fined £3, and his driver’s licence was suspended for 28 days. Senior-Sergeant A. B. Collinge said that Fisher was driving east along Ferry road at a normal speed on his correct side and behind another car. This car stopped at an intersection to give way to a car coming on his right. Fisher’s car ran into the rear of the stopped car, slewed- round, struck the front of the car coming on the right, and became wedged between the two cars. CHARGES DISMISSED William Kenneth Macdonald, for whom Mr G. H. Gould appeared, pleaded not guilty to driving without due care and attention. The charge was dismissed. The defendant was driving north along the Main North road near Styx about 45 miles an hour. A boy on a bicycle, coming in the opposite direction, cut across the road to go into a house. There was a collision and the boy suffered a serious head injury. The evidence was that the boy suddenly moved across the road when only a short distance from Macdonald’s car; that Macdonald swerved to the left to avoid him; and his car came to a stop in a ditch. Mr Gould submitted that there was no case to answer and the prosecution should not have been brought. The Magistrate said he was inclined to agree with the view, but the police were entitled to prosecute if they thought it necessary. Vincent Francis Pinn, who was not represented by counsel, pleaded not guilty to failing to give way to the right. The charge was dismissed. The Magistrate said that the defendant had taken reasonable steps to carry out his obligations when he stopped at the Salisbury street intersection when a motor-cyclist was coming along Colombo street. The motor-cyclist had said he was dazzled by the sun when he entered the intersection and did not see the stopped truck until he was almost agaihst it. CHARGE WITHDRAWN When a woman appeared on a charge of stealing books from a shop, her counsel, Mr R. Twyneham, submitted that she was not fit to plead because of her mental condition.' Detective-Sergeant G. W. Alty said he had been instructed to offer no evidence, and the charge with withdrawn by leave of the Court. An order was made prohibiting publication of the woman’s name. REMANDED . Reginald Joseph Dowthwaite, aged 32, a musterer, was remanded to June 18 on a charge of committing a breach of the terms of his probation by failing to report as directed. He was allowed bail in his own recognisance of £2O and one surety of £2O on condition that he reports daily to the police at Darfield.