CLEARING POST-BOXES

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 November 1934, Page 12

CLEARING POST-BOXES

CONTRACTOR’S OFFENCE. [per press association.] INVERCARGILL, November 14. Whether a Government mail contractor was entitled to draw up to clear pillar boxes, on the wrong side of the road, was a question Mr E. E. Lewy, S.M., was asked to decide in the Police Court this morning, when Tasman B. McKay (Mr Gordon Reed) pleaded not guilty to two charges of failing to keep to the left of the centre of the road. Inspector E. Stafford, who prosecuted, said that the Court was asked to declare that defendant’s practice of pulling in to letter boxes on his wrong side was illegal. “This case is of considerable importance to defendant,” Mr Reed said, “and I am going to ask that no conviction be entered, as he may have a technical defence. He is the only mail contractor in the city. He has to run to timetable and clear 41 boxes in two hours. His contract provides penalties in case of any breaches, and he has to work very quickly in order to carry out his schedule.” The S.M.: “It is a breach of the law, and even if I do not impose the penalty, it will have to stop. I shall give the Inspector the declaration he seeks. Defendant will have to reorganise his itinerary in some way.” The S.M. thereupon dismissed the informations.