APPEAL COURT CASE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 257, 13 October 1932, Page 7

APPEAL COURT CASE

BEQUEL TO WAIROA ’PLANE SMASH. FURTHER LEGAL ARGUMENT. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Oct. 12. - In the Appeal Court case Dominion. Airlines Ltd. v. Strand, Mr Cooke continued argument, stating that the aviation regulations of 1918 were purely police regulations and not intended to create civil liability. The regulations, he said, provided a uniform penalty for breaches of many widely differing provisions, many of which, such as the provision against flying over fortifications, had no reference to the safety of either the passengers or the public in general. The fact that the regulations were expressly stated to be provisional regulations was a clear indication that they were not intended to alter or extend existing forms of cjvil liability.

Further legal argument on the appeal of Dominion Airlines, Ltd., against a judgment of Mr Justice Reed, in which he awarded £3,000 damages to Mr William Thomas Strand, Mayor of Lower Hutt, commenced before the First and Second' Divisions of the Court of Appeal yesterday, .The action is a sequel to an aeroplane smash at Wairoa a few days after the Hawke’s Bay earthquake in February, 1931, as a result of which the pilot, Mr Ivan Louis Kight, and two passengers, one of whom was Mr William Charles Strand, son of Mr WiMiam Thomas Strand, were killed.