SOUTH TARANAKI NEWS

Taranaki Daily News, 21 April 1928, Page 15

SOUTH TARANAKI NEWS

“YOU MUST NOT SQUEAK” DRUNKEN DRIVER FAYS PENALTY. £25 AND SUSPENSION IMPOSED. That George D'Estival Gordon, of Hastings, in drinking to intoxication on April 7, while on holiday, and driving a ear in that condition, did “what he knew was wrong and risky and, having done that, must not squeak,” was the comment of Mr. J. S. Barton, S.M., in the Hawera Court yesterday. Although defendant was a reputable citizen, Mr. Barton said he had recently been on the same bench at an inquest and a hearing preliminary to a criminal charge arising out of a similar offence. That case had had fatal consequences. This had not, but the fact was due to no skill on the part of defendant. The penalty must be substantial, for society demanded that there should be no intoxication on the part of any man who took charge of a car. The penalty was a fine of £25 and the suspension of Gordon’s license for three months. Suppression of the name was refused.

“I find this a difficult ease to apply a difficult rule,” said Mr. Barton. "If you eould stop and question drivers on the road you would find them, in the large majority of eases, responsible citizens. I find the offenders under these charges are those whom you would hardly expect to find appearing under any other class of criminal proceedings. There were nine cases of drunken motorists before the courts recorded in Press Association messages during a recent week.” TESTIMONIALS SUBMITTED. Letters from the Mayor of Hastings, two men who had known defendant for the past fifteen years, and one who had lived within 200 yards of him, stamped him as “a jocular man of sober habits, of excellent habits, and as a citizen of good repute.” A motor firm testified as to his skill and care as a driver, while Mr. J. Houston made a strong plea for leniency. “A novel feature,” said counsel, “'is that the defendant the next day -joes to the police, pleads guilty and offers no futile defence and comes here from Hastings to take liis gruel He had offered to make good the damage he had done to the lorry of a Mr. Arnold in the alight accident on the Boylan Road.” The car, said Sergeant Henry, had travelled 46 yards on its wrong side after striking the lorry. It had been a race day and in defendant’s condition proceeding towards Hawera he doubtless would have met with another accident with all the race traffic on the road. “The defendant had it in his own hands at the time in view of the promise he made to his mother in Hastings not to drink,” said the magistrate in reply to an application for the suppression of the name because defendant’s mother was aged and not in good health. Mr. Barton declared that penalties in no case fell only on the offender. There could be no difference in the present case. "BUY A POPPY FOR ANZAC DAY.” BIG APPEAL IN HAWERA TODAY. In 1921 the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association saw the need for a fund to assist returned soldiers and their dependents who, through no fault ot their own, found themselves in straitened circumstances and unable to apply to the Pensions Department for relief. The scheme devised to raise this fund was the sale of poppies to be worn as an emblem of remembrance On Anza e Dav.

The first appeal to the public wps made on Anzac Day, 1922, and so successful was that campaign that the appeal has been made annually ever since. During the first five years the poppies were purchased from a French organisation and 26 per cent, of the sales was devoted to the assistance of the French war orphans. For the 1927 campaign and again for this year’s, the poppies have been purchased from the British Legion’s factory founded by the late Earl Haig. It is staffed by eu-service men who, owing to their war disabilities, are unable to follow their pre-war occupation. Under the present arrangement the whole of the proceeds of the sales, less the cost of the poppies, are retaind locally and are vested in trustees, Messrs. E. Dixon, F. Gillanders and R. McCay. During the past year the trustees have expended the sum of £B7 in relief of distress in Hawera and district.

The Returned Soldiers* Association is appealing to-day for further funds to enable the trustees to continue the good work and are confident that the generous support accorded thia movement in the past will again be forthcoming. The Women’s National Reserve has kindly undertaken the control of the Hawera sales and a willing band of workers has signified, its intention of assisting i n to-day’s effort. Everyone is asked to remember the worthy object and to “Buy a poppy f°r Anzac Day.” NEW TOKAORA HALL. SUCCESS OF THE FIRST YEAR. The first year of the existence of the Tokaora Ha'll has proved a very satisfactory one. At the annual meeting last night Mr. H. Taylor presided over a good attendance in the unavoidable absence of- Mt. S. Thrush, the chairman.

The report siAmitted by the president (Mr. S. Thrush) recorded a very successful year. The committee was in a good position financially. Euehre parties and dances had been held weekly for four months, which was thought to be a record for any hall in Taranaki, and great interest was evinced in these functions to the end. The incoming committee would 'be well advised io give good prizes and to' provide good music. The guarantors and hall committee had met and decided to exchange the old piano for a new one at no further cost. As there was barely sufficient, room in the new hall the committee and guarantors had two new dressing rooms added and the supper room enlarged, as well as provision made for prams and babies. For this thanks were due to the guarantors. The hire of the hall seemed to be excessive and might be reconsidered. Since a dance was held every week it was found impossible to let the hall. The committee’s thanks were due to Mr. T. Bolland for the nee of his copper, and to Mrs. Thrush and Mrs. Lavery for selecting euchre prizes. At times they had to select from I'2 to .14 prizes, which was

no light task. To the ladies' committee was also due a great deal of praise for providing supper every week and clearing up afterwards. A special word of thanks was duo Mrs. Freyne, th* chairwoman of the committee, for the way she organised. In February the committee held a sports meeting but on account of the wet day it was not the success expected. However, it showed a profit of £2O, which was satisfactory. Thanks were due to the ladies’ committee for undertaking the ■catering. The committee recommended the holding of another sports meeting at about the same time next year. Thanks were due to the Press, members of the committee for their loyal support, and especially the secretary. Mr. E. Tippetts, on whose shoulders a larg<e amount of work had fallen. . . . . The balance sheet showed that with the cost of the recent hall additions the committee was in debt to the extent’ of £l7B 18s lid and £25 5». Id on the piano. The profit on the year's working was £lO4. The auditor said the hall cost £541 I4s 9d and the furniture £lOl Is 2d. The receipts from entertainment* during the year totalled £328 Ils lid, the expenditure being £172 2s 9d. The report and balance sheet were adopted. The election of officers respited as follow: Ladies’ committee, Mesdames H. Finlay, Coleman, Boiland," Stewart, Atkinson and Thrush and Misses Mills' and Boltand with power to add. Men a committee: Messrs. H. Finlay, J.' Freeyne, Leslie Barr, Lionel Barr, IV,' R. Laurent and E. Tippett. “The present committee is agreed that it could not have worked under a better chairman,” remarked Mr. Taylor when it was announced that Mr. Thrush did not intend accepting office this year. The meeting unanimously appointed a deputation comprising Messrs. Finlay, senior and junior, and Bratten to wait on Mr. Thrush to get him to reconsider h?s decision. GENERAL ITEMS. The Taranaki district committee of ; the Presbyterian Bible diasses paid a . visit to the ‘'Oaks’’ yesterday afternoon to bid farewell to Miss D. Corrigan, who leaves en route for Europe this afternoon. In the party were the Rev. R. E. Evans, Messrs E. K. Cameron, president, W. Stewart, viee-peesident, W. G. Watts, young men's secretary, and Miss W. Bulloek, young women’s secretary. As a token of the good work Miss Corrigan lias done for the Bible classes she wae made the recipient of a beautiful suede bound volume of Aotea-roa poems (Grace). John Francis Scott -was convseted and fined £l, costs £1 Bs, in the Hawera Magistrate’s Court, yesterday on a charge of negligently driving a motorcycle in High Street at 11 p.m. and knocking dow n a cyclist, Tho as Edward Sunderland. The defence was that he had been blinded by the lights of an oncoming car. This evening the annual meeting of the Auroa branch of the Farmers’ Union « to be held in the Anroa Hall at eight o’clock. A meeting of the recentlyformed branch of tho Women’s Divi» sion is to be held also. PERSONAL. Mr. P. C. Webb, ex-M.P. for Grey, Is the guest of Mr. and Mrs. P. O’Dea, of Hawera. Mr. G. T. Bayley, of Auckland, is in Hawera on a short visit, and is staying with Mr. and Mrs. F. G. Treweek, of South Road. Mr. H. G. Munroe, of the clerical staff of the railways at Hawera, leaves this morning on transfer to Turakina.