DOUG. DEFIANT

NZ Truth, Issue 1103, 20 January 1927, Page 5

DOUG. DEFIANT

Toy Trams Still In Limelight

(From "N.Z; Truth's" Gisborne Rep.) Gisborne's toy trams are still , running! Twice the ratepayers have said they should be scrapped. But twice W. Douglas Lysnar, M.P., has said they shall not. QF course, the fact of Douglas saying so doesn't cut any ice, but — as luck will have it— Doug, has got the backing of the' magistrate, and what the magistrate says goes. The first poll, as everybody knows, was upset on a technical point. A second was. held ami carried by a larger majority, but Doug. ,came at it again. He hasn't won altogether this time. He's got what might be termed an Interim injunction* stopping anybody from doing anything that he says shouldn't be done. The trouble is that the interim isn't defined. Doug.'s big talk this time was that the position was affected by Judge Herdman's decision m the Takapuna "tram scrap. The Takapuna Case A Now, even if thatiis so, Judge Herdman's^ say-so is subject to an appeal to the Full Court, and this provided Magistrate Levvey with a reason for postponing decision. ' That appeal has saved Magistrate Levvey a lot of trouble, for instead of having to sit down and study the law and the facts to find out whether the Takapuna case is m any respect similar to the Gisborne one— which it possibly isn't — he can sit; back and play Micawber awhile, waiting for something to turn up. Twelve months ago Magistrate Levvey held over decision m a case because he said he wasn't going to try and unravel facts, let alone study law during Gisborne's hot summer months. This time it was not necessary for him to be so brutally frank — but he's avoiding brain fag, m the hot weather all the same. But the trouble is this:. Supposing the decision of the Appeal Court is subject to an appeal to the Privy Council, will the ratepayer's still have to wait m suspense to know if effect is to be given to their wishes? , If so, several things^ might happen. ' Magistrate Levvey may have been appointed Attorney-General or ip. some other way transferred from his present office. - ' The Gisborne trams may have got tired of waiting for the decision and scrapped themselves. / y Armageddon -may even happen along. Heaven only knows what can happen before a decision is reached by the Privy Council!