POLICE COURT

Evening Star, Issue 19549, 6 May 1927, Page 3

POLICE COURT

FRIDAY, MAY 0. (Before Mr H. W. Bundle, S.M.) REMANDED. - Henfv Smith was charged with having failed to provide adequate maintenance for his wife. On the application of Mr W. T. Taylor, defendant was remanded until Monday. MOTOR OFFENCES. Charged with driving a motor lorry without lights, ■ Christopher Boddy wrote pleading guilty and was fined 10s and costs. Harold Boning (Mr Thompson) pleaded guilty to driving a motor car on the wrong side of the street.-Sub-Inspector Fahey said defendant had driven at a speed of twenty-two miles an hour in, the-Main South road, Caversham. and at the corner of. Peters street ran into a boy, who, however, was not hurt. '• Mr Thompson said it was a case of a man seeing the road ahead perfectly clear and getting on to the best side of the road. The boy had, run out behind a car, and the fact' that he was not injured proved that the car was driven carefully. A fine of 20s and costs was imposed. Charles Gordon Davey (Mr E. T. Taylor) pleaded guilty to riding a motor cycle without a light and when not in possession of a license. Mr Taylor said the license was at Wyndham when the offence took place, awaiting delivery. On the first charge, defendant was fined 10s and costs and on the second charge, he was convicted only. William Black, charged with having ridden a motor cycle without tho assigned number being attached, admitted tho offence, stating that ho was ignorant of the regulations, having only been in the country a few months.' He also admitted having ridden the machine without a license. In connection with these charges, Kenneth Wilson was charged with having permitted Black to ride the machine without a license) The charge against Wilson was dismissed, subject to the payment of costs. Black was fined 20s and 10s costs on the second information and convicted without penalty on tho first charge. Arthur Parsons pleaded guilty to a charge of having passed a stationary tram car, and was lined 10s and costs. On a similar charge, Edward Aldrod Cuttress, who was represented by Mr Callan, was fined 30s, witness’s expenses 10s, and court costs 13s. LIQUOR WHILE PROHIBITED,

William Henry Lancaster, for procuring liquor while prohibited, was fined 10s and costs. CHIMNEY FIRES.

For allowing a chimney to catch fire, Albert Hurd was fined 5s without costs.

On a similar charge, James Kirkland and Arthur Perry were each fined os and costs. INSUFFICIENT ILLUMINATION. Alfred Duncan was fined 10s and costs for leaving a lorry without a light at night. Robert Frederick Kropp, for driving a car with only a tail light, was fined 10s and costs. John Stone (Mr King) was fined os and costs on a similar charge. Cecil Whitburn, who failed to display a light on a motor lorrv. was fined 10s and costs. William Waldren was convicted without penalty on a charge of having failed to display a light on his bicycle. Defendant stated that he had,-a light but it was not attached to the machine. The Magistrate pointed out that it was necessary to have the light attached to the machine, ACCIDENT NOT REPORTED. Robert Lyono Coombes was charged with having failed to report an accident to'the police. The Sub-Inspector stated that the defendant had knocked, two -men down ns the result, of a motor accident, on Anderson’s Bay road on March 2-1 last. The charge was dismissed, subject to the payment of 10s costs, the Magistrate stating that he did not wish to enter a conviction, owing to the fact that defendant was only a boy, but his tVorship emphasised that it was imperative to report an accident to the police. CYCLING ON FOOTPATH. Denys Brunt was fined 5s and 10s costs for cycling on tho footpath. SPEEDING MOTORISTS FINED. William. Mercer pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving a car in a manner dangerous ro the public at IVaikouaiti, and of having failed to stop when signalled to do so by Constable Hayward. Mr O’Shea appeared for defendant, who entered a plea of not guilty. Constable Hayward gave evidence to tile effect that. Mercer was travelling at forty-five miles an hour. Ho signalled the driver to stop, but although ho slackened his speed he went on. Mr O’Shea; How do you know defendant was travelling at forty-five miles an hour?

Witness: By the speed of >the other cars.

Mr O’Shea: The fact is, isn't it, you simply made.a guess at the speed? Before being able to estimate the speed of a car you must know something about its horse-power and make. Witness; It was a racing car, a fact which I did not know at the time.

Mr O'Shea; Isn’t it a fact you were too busy to do anything but toko his number? Don’t you timik it was possible defendant was under the impression that you merely wanted to take his number, and that he slackened down for the purpose? , . Witness; I kept my hand up until he passed. ■ Frederick Walter Inder, Waikougiti County clerk, stated that by the way defendant’s car was passing the other cars on the road it must have been travelling at nearly twice their speed. Witness added 1 hat it was a mere accident that ho ;s with Constable Hayward. ' Mr O’Shea said that when defendant approached the constable he was under the impression that hi) merely wanted his number. Defendant called out that he was a competitor. He had no intention of disobeying the. ronstahle’a Signal. The defendant, in evidence, said it was impossible to travel , at any s'peed on the road, which was. in a “deplorable state.” It took him about an hour and twenty minutes to,reach Waikouaiti from Dunedin. He considered it would hare been impossible to travel at the speed suggested by the constable. The roar of the engine would give a false impression as to the speed he was travelling. George Herbert said he was, in the oar that was just in front of defendant’s almost all the way from Dunedin. Ho estimated that the average speed, was twenty-five miles m hour. The open exhaust gave a very false impression about the rate of speed.

The Magistrate said Ife was not prepared to allow Mr O’Shea to call expert evidence as to the speed. There must alwavs be different views as to the rate o’f speed; and ho suggested that when the police' intended to set a tran a certain part of the road should be measured and _ stop watches used. He had no hesitation in accepting the constable's , statement .that .defendant was travelling at a high rate of speed, and he would be convicted on. that charge. It was possible that defendant misunderstood the _ constable’s signal, and that information would be dismissed. Defendant was fined £3 and ordered to pay witness’s expenses Ds and court costs 13s. , , , , Chas. A. H. Hutton also pleaded guilty to driving a motor car in a manner dangerous to the public. Sub-inspector Fahey , said defendant had driven the car along the North road on the day of the Waibouniti beach races at'a-'speed' of thirty-five miles.

Defendant said he took Ih 20min to traverse the twenty-six miles between Waikonaiti, and he had pleaded guilty to save time. Ho did not know on what stretch of the road the speeding had occurred. The Magistrate; Tt might have taken you two hours to reach Dunedin, but that would not prevent you doing thirty-five or forty miles an hour at any particular spot. Defendant: I am , a very careful driver, and, as my wife and family were in the car, I was not likely to endanger their safety in any way. Evidence was given that the speeding ha dtaken place on the road near the Brown House, at a place known as Winter’s corner. Defendant was travelling fast with other motorists, who had already appeared before the court. It was a dangerous road. A fine of 40s and costs were imposed. “ AN ERROR OF JUDGMENT.” William Eric Reynolds was charged with having driven a car in a manner dangerous to the public. Defendant pleaded not guilty, and conducted bis own case. . Robert M'Gowan Laferty gave evidence to the effect that defendant collided with hjs car near the comer of I Anderson’s Bay road and I’ortohello 1 road. Defendant’s car swerved sud- : denly to the right and came towards { witness, who turned to the ’eft, defendant colliding with him. I The defendant stated in evidence ; that he had shut his petrol off near the | railway crossing, and was travelling at i “dead slow.” He turned to the right ( in order to give Laferty an opportu- | nity of avoiding him. I The Magistrate said there was no j possible blame to be attached to Laferty i for the collision. He had no doubt I that the accident was due to the defenI dant’s actions, but under the circura- | stances lie would not enter a convic- ! tifln, although defendant certainly committed an error of judgment. The case would bo dismissed subject to the payment of 23s costs.