FOOTPATH DUG UP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22320, 18 January 1936, Page 17

FOOTPATH DUG UP

WORK ON HOTEL CELLAR CHARGE AGAINST COMPANY COMMENT BY MAGISTRATE [from our own correspondent] TE AWAMUTU, Friday A prosecution instituted by the Te Awamutu Borough Council against Te Awamutu Hotel, Limited, for digging up the soil in Sloane Street on. November 15 without authority, and with oncroaching on Sloane Street by making a cellar entrance under the street, was heard in the To Awamutu Magistrate's Court yesterday. The case was taken under section 203 of the Municipal Corporations Act. Pleas of not guilty were entered. It was explained that the representative of the hotel company submitted plans for a new building, and obtained permits for the building and for a hoarding on the footpath to assist in the work of construction. No separate application was made to break the footpath surface. Inspection of the plans showed that provision was made for a cellar, but not for access from the footpath. The cellar for the new building necessitated cutting the footpath and installing a grating. W hen the work was proceeding, telephone cables were laid bare, and the borough building inspector was called in. The outcome was an instruction to cease work. The authority of the Post and Telegraph Departmental officers was obtained, and the work proceeded. Ihe Borough Council decided to prosecute to assert its rights. The magistrate, Mr. F. H. Levien, said the excavation had been made, apparently without authority, but not wilfully. He suggested that one charge be withdrawn. When this was agreed to, counsel for the hotel company altered his plea to guilty on the first charge. He added that the whole thing arose over a misunderstanding. His clients believed they had obtained all the necessary permits. The magistrate commented that reasonable people should have been able to adjust the position, and there would then have been no need to bring the case to Court. He ordered the hotel company to pay costs, totalling £2 12s.