“SOME JOY-RIDE!”

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10816, 4 February 1921, Page 5

“SOME JOY-RIDE!”

ON A WET WEEK-END STRANGE STORIES TOLD BEFORE A MAGISTRATE. A RUDE AWAKENING. The story of a “joy-ride” was told before Mr E. K. Hunt, S.M., at the Magistrate’s Court yesterday, when Charles Daniel Fisher; taxi-proprietor tMr P. W. Jackson) sued Peter Kerr, a steward employed on the s.s. Tahiti fMr H. F. O’Leary) for the sum of £2O, which the plaintiff alleged was due for the hire of a taxi motor-car from 6.30 p.m. on January 29th until 11.30 p.m. on January 30th. In opening the case Mr Jackson said that the tour extended 190 miles and included a trip round the bays, to Johnsomille, to Cross Creek, Taita, and Day’s Bay. The legal fare was £26 15s', but his client was prepared to accept £ls. “We cannot give you that,” interjected Mr O’Leary; “Kerr started out with £2O and now has nothing. THE PARTY “EVENED-UP.” The plaintiff deposed that Kerr, when engaging the car, talked about being a farmer with plenty of money. There were two men and two girls/ besides witness and the defendant, and the men succeeded in finding another girl to ‘even-up the party”—making seven in all. He went on to give particulars of the places visited as outlined by counsel, and stated that the party reached the Taita Hotel in time for breakfast on- Sunday morning. Later in the day they went on to Day’s Bay for lunch. Mr Hunt: How did the party sleep? Witness: I do not know. I was driving. CHAMPAGNE BREAKFAST AT TAITA. Continuing his evidence, Fjsher said that the car was stopped for a while on the Hutt road. Tlie defendant was unable to have lunch at Day’s Bay because he was drunk, after the “champagne breakfast” at Taita, and preferred to go on to the beach. The party coaid not find Kerr in the afternoon, and right np to 9.30 p.m., when they decided to return eto town. The city was reached at 11.30 p.m. on the following morning. He saw the defendant on the Queen’s wharf and requested payment of the taxi hire. Kerr replied that he ‘had been robbed,” and “did not have a penny on him.” To Mr O’Leary: Fisher stated that at one time he had been a steward on the Mnmari and later a seaman on the Tahiti, He denied making a speciality of taking ships’ stewards for joy rides. The taxi was not hired by a red-headed man but by Kerr, who was not then drunk. Witness thought “a man was not intoxicated until he was lying down.” . . , “That’s a brand new definition,’ remarked Mr O’Leary. To Mr. Hunt: It was during the trip that he ‘ ascertained Kerr was a seafaring man. RED-HAIRED MAN AND GIRLS. Mr O’Leary did not make any opening statement, hut called the defendant. The butter stated that on Friday, January 28th, he.had over £27. He was ashore on Saturday morning mid spent some money, and returned to the vessel about noon. In the afternoon, in company with another steward named Mine, he went ashore i again and got very drunk. Some hours later he entered a billiard saloon and there met a red-haired man with whom he tried to play billiards. This attempt wan unsuccessful, owing to his drunken condition. The red-haired man suggested a taxi-drive and made the arrangements. When the defendant got into the motor-car he found two girls inside, and one of them sat on his knee. He remembered driving about, and next came to his senses in the pavilion at Day’s Bay, to discover that ha had been sleeping on a stretcher in a passage, and was wet through. That was on Sunday night. He returned to town by a ferry boot. He then only had 14s in his possession, although he must have had between £2O and £25 on the Saturday evening. Kerr said he remembered giving money to Fisher pn two occasions during the trip. He thought it was to buy benzine. “INEBRIATED ALL THE TIME.” To Mr Jackson: He could not recall having had a champagne breakfast. He had been inebriated all the time from the Saturday afternoon. He could not remember telling the plaintiff he wanted a joy-ride up to £2O. Both the redheaded man and the girls were strangers to him. Fisher saw him on the Monday morning and asked for the hire of the taxi, but he denied having hired the car. Thomas Henry Hine, steward, employed on the 'Tahiti, said that from about 2 p.m. until 5 p.m. on the Saturday, Kerr was in his company, to-; gether with two other men from the ship. They Were drinking (gin, and Kerr got very drunk, wherefore they took him back to the ship and left him there. During the afternoon they went for a short car ride, and each member paid 10s—£2 in all. Kerr then had between £2O and £25 in his possession. For the defence, Mr Jackson maintained that the claim for hire had actually been made under false pretences. His Worship started that he was not satisfied that sufficient proof had been produced that a contract had Been made. “Fisher owes Kerr an obligation,” said the magistrate. “It is not a sign of good character for a man to drive young people round all night.” On the grounds that insufficient proof had been submitted regarding the contract His Worship nonsuited- the plaintiff. “This is a case of a man showing a roll of notes in a billiard saloon, and then waking up some twenty-four hours after a drunken sleep and finding hia money gone,” concluded Hia Worship.