Geothermal Steam Held To Be A Hazard To Motorists

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29055, 18 November 1959, Page 7

Geothermal Steam Held To Be A Hazard To Motorists

(New Zealand Press Association)

ROTORUA, November 17. The Attorney-General through his agent the Ministry of Works in the geothermal area at Wairakei has been held responsible for a motor accident in that area on October 26. In a written judgment issued in the Magistrate’s Court at Rotorua

today, Mr G. J. Donne, S.M., ruled that steam emanating from bores at the side of the road was the direct cause of a collision. Peter Thomas Mitchell, whose wife Pamela was driving the car which was involved in a collision with a truck driven by an employee of International Contractors, alleged that the Ministry of Works was negligent in that it did not take proper care to prevent steam at the geothermal field from billowing across the highway, thus constituting a hazard. The department claimed that reasonable care had been taken and that Mitchell had been negligent in failing to keep on the correct side of the road. The third party contended that, if there was to be any question. of contribution by the three parties, it also suffered from the effects of the Crown allowing steam to create a nuisance. The Magistrate ordered the defendants to pay Mitchell, a company manager, of Auckland, the sum of £56 15s 3d, the amount of the claim, together with costs and witnesses’ expenses on a scale to be fixed by the registrar.