"AN ISOLATED CASE"

Evening Star, Issue 23324, 21 July 1939, Page 10

"AN ISOLATED CASE"

WARRANT OF FITNESS UTTERED “ It appears tin’s is an isolated case, and in the circumstances no imprisonment will be imposed,” said Mr Justice Smith, when admitting Matthew James Hamilton, in the Supreme Court to-day, to probation for 18 months for uttering a false warrant of fitness in respect of a motor car. Mr O. J. L. White, who represented the accused, saidl that the offence of uttering a forged document usually involved an attempt to make a substantial financial gain, but all Hamilton did was to try to evade a fine of 20s. ' The accused, said counsel, had been driving a car for 10 years, and he had left the vehicle at a farm near Oamaru for a lengthy period. When he decided to place the car on the road again the obtaining of a warrant of fitness did not enter into his mind. He was teaching another man to drive the vehicle when he was asked by a traffic inspector for the warrant and also for Ids license. The inspector was told by Hamilton that he would submit the warrant the following week. The report of the probation officer inferred that a fine would be a sufficient punishment. Mr White stressed that before the prosecution the police did not act on a suggestion that the charge be reduced to giving false information, and Mr White said that the ends of justice might have been met had this course been adopted, especially as the police knew that the accused would he pleading guilty. The accused himself did not realise the gravity of his action when he uttered the forged warrant. In admitting Hamilton to probation, the Judge said he would take into consideration the good character borne by the accused', who was ordered to pay the costs of the prosecution (£6 4s).