MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 24 July 1924, Page 9

MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

WEEKLY SITTING. The weekly sitting of the Hawera Magistrate’s Court was held to-dav. Mr •). S. Barton, S.M., presiding. BY-LAW CASES. Thomas Reynolds Wright pleaded guilty to a charge of driving a car on tiie wrong side of the road when turning from Princes Street into High Stieet. Defendant, who was a resident of Wanganui, was fined 15s and 7s court costs. _ Alexander Castle was fined £1 and 7s court costs for riding lii s motorcycle without a light. Hugh IV. E. Pinfold was fined 15s and vs court costs for riding a motorcycle without a front registration number. Defendant, who arrived late owing to his car having broken down, was granted a rehearing, but on Sergeant Henry giving evidence to the eflect that be saw Pinfold riding without a number on a previous occasion, the original decision was allowed to. stand. Defendant, however, denied having ridden without a number on this previous occasion, and stated" that it was only on the Monday, some days later, that his front number was broken off against a wire fence. Ike Katene was fined £1 and 7s court costs for driving a. horse and cart without lights. COLLISION- CASE. J. R. Airchibald, of Inglewood, was charged by the police with driving a motor-car in a manner dangerous to the* public in that lie did not keep a sufficient look-out. Sergeant Henry said that defendant was driving along Union Street from the railway station, when his car struck a gig driven by a native boy named Hinga on the intersection ot Nelson and Union Streets. Hinga was taken to the hospital with injuries tc his head, and it was alleged that Archibald’s negligent-e was the cause of the accident. Cross-examined by Mr O’Dea, Hinga admitted that his hors© was hard in the mouth, but he could not say who was responsible for tho accident. He saw Archibald when he was about a chain away. E. Stevens, who witnessed thq? accident, said that Archibald was travelling at a very reasonable speed—about eight miles per hour—and he did not think that the accident was anyone’s fault. Constable Fleming said that defendant, in a written statement, had said that he did not see the horse and gig until he was close to them. Archibald, in his evidence, said he approached the intersection slowly, blew his horn, and was practically right on the gig when he saw it. He could not see out to the left because of the misty rain on his windscreen, although he had no side curtains up. He was keeping a good look-out ahead and to the right. His Worship said that the case was on the border line, but lie would give the defendant the benefit of the doubt, as he was driving carefully, and the gig was not able to null up. However, lie could not, accept the idea that given a soft rain and a wet windscreen and a vehicle coming out of a side street, an accident was inevitable. Tho information would be dismissed. BY DEFAULT. Judgment for the plaintiff, with costs against the defendant, was (riven in each of the following undefended civil cases:—B. 11. Long v. C. Blake, £7; same v. S. Cain. £1 15s; same v. S. A. Skilling, £1 'los. JUDGMENT SUMMONSES. Orders were made in the following judgment summons cases:—Johnson and Co., Ltd., v. C. Glceson, £53 3s lid, in default 50 days’ imprisonment ; H. Fi. Partridge arid Co., v. H. McCabe, £5 13s 7d. in default seven days’ imprisonment, warrant to be suspended providing debtor pays 10s per month.