UPPER HUTT COURT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2691, 10 February 1916, Page 9

UPPER HUTT COURT

. Mr. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., presided I at a sitting of the Upper Hutt Court , held yesterday. , Leonard Colter was fined £3 ani ] J3 S j costs, in default 14 days' imprisonment, for conveying intoxicating liquor into a ; military camp. - Ernest .Morgan, lor , acting as agent for a member of tho . Defence Force, for the' purchase of in- : toxicating liquor, was convicted and or- . dored to pay 7s. costs. R. Mulhern ; and A. Anderson were convicted, and . each was ordered to, pay 12s. 6d. costs, i for allowing cattle to wander on a public road. In the adjourned case, of allowing , cattle to wander, Hutt County Ranger v. Amos Howell, which required a Magistrate's ruling as to whether defendant was liable, in view of the fact that the cattle and tho property on which they were kept belonged to his wife, the Magistrate decided that defendant was liable, and lie was convioted and ordered to pay 17s. "6d. costs. William Stace was proceeded against for obstructing a public place, by allowine a horse to be tethered on a road; Mr. J. S. Barton appeared for the prosecution, and Mr. AY. F. Ward for tlio defence. It was contended by the defence that the road in question was the property of defendant, and not a public road. It appeared that about 26 years ago Stace gav.e permission to'certain persons to lav a tramline through his property for the purpose of obtaining timber, and since then the site has been used by the public as « road. Mr. Barton, for the ,Hutt County,'argued that the fact that tho road I 'had been used by the public constituted it a public place, and called evidence to prove public use. Mr. Ward, -for the defence, quoted the authorities to show that if defendant had grounds for believing that he was ownor, no conviction could be entered against him. In dismissing the information, the Magistrate said lie had no doubt the rnad was a public place, but that defendant had reasonable grounds for believing he had the right to use it. and therefore he could not convict. Ho warned defendant, however, against repeating the offence. Permission to appeal was 1 Granted to Mr. J. S. Barton for plaintiffs. . Judgment by default was given in tho' following undefended civil cases: — H. V. Benic v. P. M'Lean, £2G 6s. 9d., costs £2 95.; same v. H. Blake, £27 9s. 2d., costs £1 19s. i