BEFORE S.M. IF POSSIBLE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19701, 5 August 1938, Page 8

BEFORE S.M. IF POSSIBLE

INTOXICATION CHARGES TRIAL OF MOTORISTS (P«r Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH. this day. The making of a general rule that all charge.; alleging intoxication against motorists should be tried only by stipendiary magistrates is not considered practicable by the Minister of Justice, the Hon. 11. G. R. Mason. ' The Minister gives reasons for his view in a letter received by the executive of the South Island Motor Union last evening, in which he disagrees with a resolution passed by the union and brought to his notice. "I have to state that while I appreciate the desirability of this type of case being heard as a general rule before magistrates, it would not be practicable to insist that such cases be so heard in every instance," the minister writes. "In the larger centres where magistrates are stationed, it is the practice for magistrates to deal with intoxication cases and with regard to smaller places instructions were recently issued that, wherever practicable, charges against intoxicated motorists should be deferred until a visit of a stipendiary magistrate.

' Cases, however, sometimes arise in country districts where no magistrate is immediately available and where it is not desirable that the defendant should be remanded for a lengthy period. In such cases there is often no option but to have the matter dealt with by local justices."