ILL-FATED CHARIOT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18896, 19 December 1924, Page 13

ILL-FATED CHARIOT.

DRUNKEN DRIVER'S ESCAPADE

A FINE AND A WARNING.

The disaster which attended the exhibition of a Roman chariot drawn by two gailv caparisoned steeds in Manukau Road on Wednesday afternoon, resulted in the driver, William Burton Parrie, aged 45, being charged at the Police Court yesterday, 0 before Mr. J. W. Poynton, S.M., with having been drunk while in charge of a cart.

Sergeant Ilowell said that accused, garbed as a Roman charioteer, drove the vehicle along Manukau Road and lost control on account of being inebriated. After a whirlwind gallop, the horses fell, and the chariot, which was used for advertising a motion picture, was wrecked beyond repair. "Ho smashed his chariot and broke some of the ten commandments, too," said the sergeant. Constable Wilks stated that he took charge of the abandoned vehicle. Accused was drunk, and witness considered that he was not in a fit state to bo in charge of anything oil wheels. He was attending to one of the horses which had been injured. Constable White said that when lie questioned accused he received the reply, "The accident occurred at tlio junction of Karaiigahapo Road and Symonds Street." Accused (to witness): But I was stunned when I said that.

Witness: You were "stunned" al! right. Accused (indicating Lis bandaged head) 1 mean stunned as the result of the acei dent.

Mr. Poynton: Ho is still showing the effects of liquor.

Accused: 1 was going over the Newmarket Bridge when ui train whistled and one horse bit the other on the neck and they set off. The chariot was only a flimsy affair, and I kept my head and held on to the reins. There was no brake, and no proper harness, and my first thought, after the crash was to attend to the horses. I admit I had a couple of drinks, hut nothing over the odds.

.Sergeant Howell: His employer says he is a good man at his particular job, but he won't drive that chariot again.

.Mr. I'oynton : I do not think that I can deal with the case by a fine.

Sergeant Howell intimated that accused's employer would keep him under supervision. The horses had not been seriously injured. I poll receiving this assurance, the magistrate remarked that horses ia full gallop were not. as serious a menace as a motor-car in the hands of a drunken driver, and warned accused to abstain from liquor. .\ fine of XI was imposed.