PARKING BYLAW

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 5, 6 July 1939, Page 10

PARKING BYLAW

ABSENCE OF NOTICE

PROSECUTION FAILS

IMPORTANT DECISION

I No prosecution under the provisions of the Wellington City bylaw which makes it an offence for a motor-car to j remain stationary in Jervois Quay for I a longer period than one hour can succeed unless it is proved that the necessary notices have bean erected, said Mr. J. L. Stout. S.M.. in the Magis- J jtrate's Court today, in a judgment: I which dismissed a case against. aj !motorist charged with a breach of the! j bylaw. J At the hearing', at which Mr. A. R. | Cooper appeared for the City Council, land Mr. P. H. Putnam for the de~ |fendant, it was admitted that no notice' | was erected in the locality where the car was parked. Counsel for the defendant contended that in the absence of such a notice the prosecution must fail. - . ■ "I am oi the opinion that the provisions of regulation 3 (.4) are mandatory," said the Magistrate. "It seems ! to me that it was the intention that a uniform system of notification of restricted parking was the intention of the regulation. This, I think, is borne out by the fact that it was necessary i to exempt the local authorities from' penalty for non-erection of notices, j Also, where an area is specially re-; stricted as to speed, no prosecution follows unless the necessary notices ■ are erected. 'li was suggested that to hold that the section was mandatory was to make the regulation retrospective, but' that is not the case. It does not in-,' terfere with the bylaws except to im- j j pose upon the local authority the duty j ;of erecting notices from the date the ' j regulations came into force. It is | j surely repugnant within the meaning j lof section 36 (5) of the Motor j i Vehicles Act, 1924, that under tha ' • traffic regulations there can be no j prosecution unless notices are erected, j ' and that, under bylaw, a prosecu- i , tion will lie in the absence of notices, j I 1 think, therefore the bylaw must be ■ I read subject to the regulations and. that no prosecution under it can sue-: ceed unless it is proved the neces- ■. sary notices have been erected. The ( information must, therefore, be dismissed." I