Magistrates Court Contractor Fined £20 On Explosives Charges

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30288, 14 November 1963, Page 11

Magistrates Court Contractor Fined £20 On Explosives Charges

Kiwi Contractors, Ltd., in liquidation, was fined £lO by Mr E. A. Lee, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday on a charge of failing to take all reasonable precautions to ensure the safety of persons lawfully near blasting work and of failing to keep detonators and gelignite in safe custody.

The company was also fined £lO on a charge of commencing work in which explosives were used without notifying the safety inspector. On a charge of failing to keep gelignite explosives and detonators in separate containers a safe distance from each other, the company was ordered to pay costs. Mr B. J. Drake, who appeared for Kiwi Contractors, Ltd., entered pleas of guilty to the three charges. Mr L. A. Pearson, a senior safety inspector in the Department of Labour, said that after a telephone complaint from a resident of the Bedcliffs area on September 17

an inspector went to Main road, where the company was carrying out excavation work. Explosives were used and the company had not notified the department. It had been warned about this previously. A plastic bag containing part of a stick of gelignite and detonators was found lying at the entrance to a grocer’s shop. Had the inspector been notified he would have made certain that the usual safety precautions were carried out, Mr Pearson said.

Mr Drake said the company was laying a drain when it came across a small section of rock that had to be blown up. The firm had a competent man to do this. Wire netting was placed over the area where the shot was fired. He considered that there had been a doubling up of charges, said Mr Drake, The company was in liquidation, and any fine imposed would be at the expense of its creditors. He understood that these were the first charges to be laid under the Construction Act, 1959. The Legislature regarded the offences as potentially dangerous, as a maximum penalty of £lOO was provided for, the Magistrate said. BAIL OPPOSED Police opposed bail being granted to Hoani Pitama, aged 20, when he was charged with robbing Peter Christopher and another of £39 17s on November 10. Mr P. G. S. Penlington applied for bail, and SeniorSergeant G. M. Cleary said he was directed to oppose bail because of the serious nature of the offence. After Mr Penlington had been heard in chambers Pitama was remanded on bail to November 18 and ordered to report daily to the police. KILLED PROTECTED GAME

On a charge of killing protected game, a pheasant, at Southbridge on September 30, John Serra, aged 68, a pensioner, was fined £5. He was ordered to pay costs of £1 10s, witnesses’ expenses of £l, and a solicitor’s fee of £3 3s. He pleaded guilty. Mr J. G. Leggait, who appeared for the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, said that a ranger received information that there was a shooting' party in the Southbridge area. He followed car tracks in the mud and found the defendant’s car. The ranger demanded to inspect the boot of his car and the shot pheasant was discovered. A .22 rifle was confiscated. The society had spent a good deal of time and money to establish these game birds. Serra said he had been shooting for most of his life and this was his first conviction. It was a very stupid thing to do. UNREGISTERED DOG Betty Coker, a married woman, was ordered to pay costs on a charge of failing to register a fox terrier dog. She pleaded guilty by letter. Mr G. R. Lascelles, who prosecuted for the Christchurch City Council, said this was a case of genuine hardship, and he asked for less than the usual solicitor’s fee. The Magistrate ordered a solicitor’s fee of £1 Ils 6d to be paid. NO PA.Y.E. RECORDS For failing to produce P.A.Y.E. records to the Inland Revenue Department, Eric Matthew Seiwood was fined £lO. He did not appear. REMANDED John El win Hall, aged 18, was remanded on hail to December 4 on charges of unlawfully taking a motorvehicle on or about October 7 and burglary on or about the same date.