MAGISTRATE’S COURT

Grey River Argus, 16 September 1941, Page 8

MAGISTRATE’S COURT

SITTING AT GREYMOUTH Mr G. G. Chisholm, S.M., presided at yesterday’s sitting of the Magistrate’s Court at Gueymouth, when Senior-Sergeant G. F. Bonisch conducted the cases for the police. George James Thomson was charged that, on August 17, at Greymouth, he did carry more than two persons, on a motor-cycle not equipped with Defendant was convicted and fined 10s and costs 10s. John William Faulkner was charged with driving a motor vehicle on Omoto Road on August 2d. without a warrant of fitness. Defendant was convicted and fined 5s and 10s costs. Frederick James Tibbles was charged that he did drive a motor vehicle at South Beach, without a driver s license, being convicted and fined £2 and 10s costs. James Maitland was charged with driving a motor vehicle on Omoto Road, on August 25, without a warrant of fitness, being convicted and lined 10s and 10.; costs. Edward Ward Rathbun (Mr W. D. Tayior) pleaded guilty to a charge that, between February 17 and June 11, 1941, at Greymouth, being the holder of-a building permit issued by 'ne Greymouth Borough Council, he did depart from the plan and specifications deposited with the application. A charge of using such- a building for purposes other than that which was set out when the application was granted was withdrawn. Mr J. W. Hannan, who appeared for the Borough Council, said that +he application had been for a permit to construct two garages on two adjoining sections, on which houses were to be built. When the garages were completed, they were other than t-iose applied for, the builder using .hem as workshops. The garages were situated in an area zoned by the Borough Council Town Planning Committee as a residential area, and an application for a permit to build a workshop would have been refused by the Council However, the use of the ouilding as a workshop was only temporary, being used while the particular houses were under construction. Mr Taylor said the garages had been used as workshops only in connection with the work on the houses. Defendant was convicted and fined 10s and 10s costs, the Magistrate stating that a small fine would meet the case. Judgment with costs was allowed ror plaintiff by default in the following civil claim: Grey County Council v. Johanna Nyberg, £l9 5s 3d, costs £3 2s. CAR-LIGHTING OFFENDERS William Thomas was charged that, being a driver of a motor-vehicle in the head-light restriction area of Gieymouth, in Tainui Street, on September 3, he did fail to dip his headlights. Inspector H. Lane said that on June 3, he saw defendant in Tainui Street, and his car lights were full on. The prosecution was made under the emergency regulations, and was ti c first case of its kind in Greymouth. The Magistrate said that as the case was the first prosecution of its kind, defendant would be ordered to pav costs. 10s. Alfred Henry Chunn was convicted on a similar charge and ordered to pay costs 10s. A. E. Sloss, County Traffic Inspector, said that he had stopped defendant in Tainui Street, Grevmoufh, on September 3, when his lights were not on in accordance with the lighting restriction regulations. The Magistrate pointed out that in future he did not intend to order defendants to pay court costs, and after the first cases had been published in the newspapers, fines would be imposed. MINING OFFENCES Walter Barber was charged that, on June 28, at Wallsend, being a shot-firer : n the slant dip section of the Brunner Colleries, he did fail to examine, with a locked safety lamp, all contiguous accessible places within a range of 20 yards from a place where a shot-hole had been charged and coupled to the shot-firing cable, preparatory to the firing of same, and find them clear of all inflammable gases. James McArthur, Inspector of Mines, said that on June 28, he inspected the Dobson Mine, and in the slant dip section of the mine found a shot-hole, the charge in which was connected bv cable to a detonator. He inspected the area, and nearby ( the shot-hole he found 216 cubic feet of firedamp. He asked defendant who ! was to fire the shot if he had in-] spected the locality for inflammable] gases, and found that he had not. i Had he (the inspector) not chosen that moment to inspect the mine, the consequences might have been serious.] The Magistrate said that ' such a breach pf the regulations might have had serious consequences. It was a serious breach,' and one on which there were not many prosecutions. It was a case where he must inflict a penalty. Defendant would be convicted "and fined £5 and costs 10s. James Williams was charged that, on June 26, at Ten Mile Creek, being mine manager at Hunter and Party’s mine, he did fail to withdraw the workmen from their working place in the mine, rendered dangerous by the presence of inflammable gas. Mr McArthur said that he had inspected the mine, and found the presence of inflammable gas in the men’s working olaces. Defendant must have known the gas was there. He was supposed to inspect the mine for such gas. There was a large quantity of gas, which was diffused and must have keen there a considerable time. Defendant was convicted and fined £5, with 10s costs. COAL CREEK ACCIDENT Leslie Maloney. Blackball, pleaded not guilty to a charge that, on August 3, 1941. he did drive a motorvehicle on the Grey-Westport highway without due care and attention. Bertha Elizabeth Herring, Mackay Street, Grevmouth, said that on August 3 she, her son and Mr Mordaunt were walking toward Wingham Park. There was a good deal of pedestrian and motor traffic on the road. She and Mordaunt were walking together on the left-hand side of the road, there being no footpath, and Mordaunt was on her right. She was right off the bitumen. After _ they had crossed the overhead railway bridge, she heard a motor-bus coming behind her. She heard no horn sounded, and the next thing she knew was that her boy was knocked off his tricycle on the side of the road 1 and Mr Mordaunt was lying unconscious on the side of the road. Her son suffered a broken collarbone, and Mordaunt concussion. Her son had been riding his tricycle in front of her. She did not see any other motor vehicle on the road at the time. She was not injured herself. The bus hit Mordaunt, passed her, hit her son, and stopped a good way past her. The bus came in towards them. She did not see anything on the road which] might have made the bus change its, direction. I

Edward George Mordaunt, an employee of the Dobson coal mine, gave similar evidence as to the accident. Witness stated that he had been walking on the edge of the bitumen. He did not remember seeing any pedestrian or motor traffic on the road at the time. He did not remember a motor car pass him just prior to the accident. He did not know what hit him. and woke up in the Grey River Hospital, where he re-

mained for ten days. He did not hear a horn, and did not know that there was a bus coming behind him. To defendant: The boy was ab° ut three yards in front of him. There was not room for the boy to go between he and Mrs Herring He had told the little bov not to ride too far out on the road. There was little room to walk on off the road. George Walters, of Brown and Waiters’ Garage, said that on August 3 he was driving a motor vehicle to the football at vVingham Park. There were three passengers in his car. There was a fair amount of traffic on the road. He sa>w Mordaunt and Mrs Flerring on the left-hand side of the road, with a bov on a tricycle about, eight or nine feet ahead of them. The boy was right on the edge of the bitumen. He did not know he was being followed bv a Railway Services bus, and arrived at Wingham Park before he knew an accident had taken place. He was driving at about 25 miles an hour and at no time slowed up. , , To defendant: The car he passed proceeding from Runanga was a small car. Constable W. T. Roughan produced a plan of the locality, and said that about Ift 4ins from the left-hand side of the road was a natch of blood, allegedly caused by Mordaunt’s injury. There was no footpath, and there was very little gravel, the grass practically growing- on to the bitumen. The marks on the. road indicated that Mordaunt and Mrs Herring were on ] their correct side of the road.

Defendant, in evidence, said that he was casually emoloyed by the N.Z.Z Road Services. He was taking a team of Blackball footballers to Wingham Park on August 3. On the Wingham Park end of the bridge, a small car he had been following pulled over to its right and slackened speed suddenly. He could then see the pedestrians, whom the car in front had hidden from his view. There was no room to pass the car on the right-hand side, and the pedestrians on the left-hand side of the road were about' six feet out on the road. It appeared that the boy was between them. He braked the bus and swung the vehicle to avoid an accident, but there was not enough room for him to pass. He was travelling at about 20 miles an hour. Fie hit Mordaunt with the front bumper, lifted him up, then being struck by the mudguarfl and thrown clear. Immediately the bus stopped he uot out and rendered as much assistance as possible. He did not recollect hitting the boy, but it was possible that when Mordaunt was thrown clear he hit the boy and knocked him over To the Senior-Sergeant: He had two football teams in the bus. There were about 34 passengers in the bus altogether. He had had an omnibus license for six years, and was familiar with the rules of the road. He knew that it was a rule that a vehicle must stop in half the clear length in front of it. He could not stop in time to avoid an accident. His brakes were not as good as they should have been. Mordaunt was at fault in that he was occupying- about a third of the road.

To the Magistrate: He did not sec the car which Mr Walters had said was coming from Runanga and made him pull up. W’altei* McNaughton, miner, of Blackball, said that he was a member of the Blackball football team, and had travelled to Wingham Park in the bus driven by defendant. He had been sitting in the front seat of the bus. In between the overhead bridge and another bridge a car passed the bus coming from the direction of Runanga. He had no recollection of seeing Mordaunt and his companion, being hidden by the car driven by Mr Walters. About a chain and a half past the second bridge, Mr Walters’ car swung out to the centre of the road and almost stopped. He ielt a bump as the bus hit Mordaunt. T-o the Magistiate: He did not see Walters’ car until about three seconds before it swung out. The bus was not travelling faster than Walters car. George Ernest Schaeffer, a miner, of Blackball, said that he had been in the front seat of the bus with the previous witness, and corroborated the evidence of McNaughton To the Senior-Sergeant: He had told the constable at Blackball that Maloney had swung the bus sharply to the left to avoid a collision with Walters’ car. Mr Walters, recalled by the Magistrate, said that he did not pull over to the right of the road. He had no intention of picking up the pedestrians, as the car was full.

The Magistrate: I don’t think there can be any doubt about the happening, and under the circumstances defendant must be convicted, as he was travelling too fast to act when an emergency arose. I have an idea that defendant had been following Walters for some time, and I gathered from McNaughton’s evidence that he was overtaking Walters. When defendant saw the pedestrians he was going too fast to meet the emergency and I cannot accept defendant’s story that Waiters puhed up in the centre of the road. It was not reasonable, and I think he was travelling so that he was not taking sufficient caution to meet an emergency. When Wal-

ters pulled up, he was taken by surprise and could not avoid the pedestrians. The trouble was that he was travelling too fast and not taking sufficient care, with the amount of traffic on the road. He will be convicted and fined £3, costs 19s, and witnesses' expenses 13s 4d.