TWO CHARGES OF INTOXICATION

Southland Times, Issue 23818, 16 May 1939, Page 5

TWO CHARGES OF INTOXICATION

MEN IN CHARGE OF MOTOR-VEHICLES

WEEK-END VISITORS TO DUNEDIN

(United Press Association) DUNEDIN, May 15. Two visitors to Dunedin for the weekend found their trips unexpectedly expensive. They appeared before Mr H. W. Bundle, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court today and pleaded guilty to charges of being intoxicated in charge of motor-vehicles. John Henry Stewart, a flaxcutter from Glenham, was intoxicated in charge of a motor-cycle early on Saturday evening and Robert Alexander Bell, a young Invercargill man who is employed at the Homer Tunnel, was intoxicated in charge of a motor-car later in the evening.

Stewart was fined £l4, with medical expenses £1 1/-. His licence was suspended and he was prohibited from driving for 12 months. The fine is to be paid at the rate of £1 a week, in default 14 days’ imprisonment. Bell was fined £l5, with medical expenses £1 1/-. His licence was suspended and he was prohibited from driving for 12 months. Leave was reserved to make application for permission to drive trucks only on the Hollyford road. That application would have to be accompanied by a certificate from the works manager at the tunnel, the Magistrate said, and Bell would be required to take out a prohibition order.

TWO MEN AND ONE MOTORCAR

OWNER SEATED NEXT TO DRIVER (United Press Association) > DUNEDIN, May 15. A variation of the usual trend of charges of being intoxicated in charge of a motor-vehicle was heard by Mr H. W. Bundle, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court. It concerned two men, Arthur Bert Perry and James Porter Milne, both employees of coal firms, and one motor-car and the charge against each man was that of being intoxicated in charge of the car at the same time and in the same set of circumstances. It was held by the police that Perry, whose car it was, was in control of it in that he was in the seat next to the driver and in a position to direct him. Milne was in the driver’s seat and in charge of the controls. \ The circumstances of the charge were outlined by Senior Sergeant Clausen, who said that the allegations in the case were that at 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 6, Constable Mackie, on duty in Princes street, was informed by a passing motorist that a drunken man was trying to start a car in the Anderson’s Bay road. The constable made inquiries and found an old model car in Anderson’s Bay road. Smoke was coming from the exhaust as they approached and the engine was heard being turned over by the starter. There were three men in the car, the owner, Perry, being seated beside the man in the driver’s seat. The other man, Arthur Sydney Gutsell, was in the back seat. Perry was holding a bicycle on the running board. The man in the driver’s seat, Milne, said that he did not know who was the owner of the car and, if he did, he would not tell the constable. Perry said that he owned the car and that “Jim is a good driver.” Both men were substantially intoxicated and the report of Dr Evans, who examined them 25 minutes later, spoke for itself. After he had heard the evidence, the Magistrate adjourned the cases, which were heard separately, till Friday.