MOTORIST PENALISED

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 34, 9 August 1934, Page 15

MOTORIST PENALISED

CHARGE OF INTOXICATION

' for being intoxicatod while in charge of a motor-car Bonald Stevenson Hatlick, a company manager, of Wanganui, was fined £15 and had his licence suspended for six months by Mr. E. Pago, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court this afternoon.

Sub-Inspector Koaeh suid that the accused's car was followed along the Hutt Road shortly before 6 o 'clock last ■ night by a traffic inspector, whose suspicions were aroused by tho uncertain movements of the car. When the ear leached Johnsonvillo tho inspector ' stopped it and discovered that_ the accused, who was driving, was in a state of intoxication. A doctor who examined Hatrick subsequently stated that although he was not in a very advanced state of intoxication he was sufficiently so for his driving to be affected. The case was not a serious one of its kind, but it might have beon had the accused been allowed to proceed - to Wanganui. 1 Mr. J. F. B. Stevenson, who appeared for Hatrick, entered a plea of guilty. He said that tho case was one in which the accused had had just sufficient liquor to affect his judgment in driving. It had been his intention to defend the case, but after a discussion with the sub-inspector ho had decided to plead guilty in viow of the wide interpretation of the word intoxication under the Act. Mr. Stevenson stated 'that it would be a serious matter for -his client if his driving licenco was suspended, as ho was compelled to make frequent trips to Wellington at short notice in the course of his business.