UNFENCED HOLE
Action Against Firm Fails (N.Z. Preet Association) AUCKLAND. Dec. 16. A prosecution against the Papakura firm of C. R. Chadwick, Ltd., of leaving a hole near a road without fencing was dismissed by Mr R. A. Grant, S.M., today. The company (Mr G. D. Rice) denied the offence at an earlier hearing. The charge was laid after two boys, aged four and two, were drowned in a deep hole on a subdivision.
The Magistrate said it was conceded the hole had been left open and unfenced, but it was contended that it was not near a public place. “The hole was not visible from the roadway, being 125 feet distant,” he said. The surface of the land between the road and hole was not a mown lawn but a paddock. What could be seen from the road was a pile of clay which might well attract wandering children. “The increase in subdivision in metropolitan areas involving sewage and drainage works in place* populated by young families calls for a new look at this matter by the Legislature,” he said.
He said he bad considerable doubt that the evidence disclosed a breach of the section of the Police Offences Act, under which the company was charged. “The company is entitled to the benefit of this doubt and the prosecution is dismissed.”
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19651217.2.170
Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30936, 17 December 1965, Page 18
Word Count
222UNFENCED HOLE Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30936, 17 December 1965, Page 18
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.
Log in