The Penalty of Hurrying To a Football Match

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 258, 30 October 1937, Page 2

The Penalty of Hurrying To a Football Match

At the Pahiatua monthly Bitting of the Magistrate's Court, held yesterday before Mr. H. P. Lawry, S.M., Harold Haddyn Smith, of Pongaroa, was charged that, on the 15th September at Dannevirke, he did drive a motor-car on the main highway at a speed dangerous to the public. Smith pleaded not guilty through his solicitor, Mr. Uoyd. The traffic inspector (A. C. Crawford) stated that Smith's car was travelling north at a speed of 50 to 52 miles an hour through the town. Smith and his witnesses stated that they were en route to see the Hawke's Bay-Springboks match and, after doing business at Dannevirke, proceeded towards .Napier and at no time of the journey their speed was in excess of GO miles an hour. After hearing the evidence the Magistrate amended the charge to that of driving at a speed in excess of 50 xn.p.h. in a borough. Before doing so he stated that had the speed as estimated by the inspector been done nearer the town it would have been a case of cancellation of the driving license. .fn view of the fact that the locality.where the offence occurred was on the outskirts of the town and in a sparsely populated part of the town, the charge could be easily met by that previously mentioned. Smith was convicted and lined £2 and 10s costs,