LANGUAGE CHARGE FAILS

Taranaki Daily News, 12 May 1934, Page 7

LANGUAGE CHARGE FAILS

CHRISTCHURCH DOCTOR CHARGED. INCIDENT IN THE ROADWAY, " By Telegraph—Press Association. Christchurch, Last Night. A charge of using insulting words in a public place was brought against Henry Thomas Joynt Thacker, medical practitioner, in the Magistrate’s Court today. Thacker’s chauffeur, Clarence Campbell Falconer, was charged with negligently driving a car. Both charges were dismissed. Sub-Inspector Powell said that on April 10 Leonard Armstrong was cycling in Durham Street on his correct side opposite Thacker’s property. Thacker's car was driven in front of him and stopped so that Armstrong had to ride into the gutter and fall off to avoid riding into the car.

Armstrong asked the chaffeur for an explanation but Thacker replied that he had a right to pull in as he lived there. Thacker, he alleged,, also told Armstrong to “get out of the road” and called him “a — useless cur,” and turning to the chauffeur told him “to squeeze the neck of that man.” Thacker and Falconer, also Mrs. Thacker, denied that Thacker had used the words and all declared Armstrong had used provocative language, calling Thacker “the biggest dud in New Zealand” and a “big bluff-” The magistrate said the er idence on each side was an absolute contradiction and he was unable to say which was the truth.