AUTHORITY NOT CARRIED

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIV, Issue 20965, 18 February 1938, Page 5

AUTHORITY NOT CARRIED

WARNING TO TRAFFIC OPERATORS NOMINAL PENALTY The necessity for heavy traffic operators to carry their licensing authority in the lorry actually working in the district in which they had the right to operate, was pointed out by Mr H. Morgan, S.M., at the Timaru Magistrates Court yesterday when Roland Cross pleaded not guilty to a charge of conducting a goods service between Rangitata Island and Timaru other than in keeping with the terms of his license. Traffic Inspector R. W. Ashwell said that on January 12 he saw the defendant's lorry south of Temuka loaded with lambs. The driver produced an authority which was for Waimate and Levels County. The driver informed [ witness that he had received a ring i from Rangitata Island to transport 1 lambs to Smithfield. Cross was away | from home at the time. Cross had since produced an authority which allowed him to carry general goods in I the Geraldine County, but it was not in the possession of the driver on that i day. | Evidence that he was not sure I whether the authority was in the lorry ' or not was given by the defendant, who said that he possessed the necessary authorities for each of his six vehicles. At the time he was only using four vehicles and if the authority was not in the lorry it must have been an oversight. The Magistrate: Unless you can prove that it was in the lorry I have to accept the evidence of the inspector.— I cannot do that. It was not a serious offence and he was not pressing for a heavy penalty, said Inspector Ashwell. It was necessary, however, that the authorities should be in the correct lorries. The Magistrate said it was clear that | the defendant had a license to operate | in the territory but the driver did not i have the authority with him. It was an oversight and a nominal penalty would meet the case. Cross was fined 10/- with costs 11/-. Traffic Breaches I “This is a very dangerous practice,” i said the Magistrate in fining a motorist, Lindsay Robert Sutherland. £2/10/with costs 10/- on a charge of overtak- ' ing a vehicle when he did not have a ‘ clear view of the road ahead. ! On a similar charge Leslie Joseph Woodford was fined £2 with costs 12/-. William Cartwright Holmes was fined £2 with costs 10/- for driving a motor car in Talbot Street. Geraldine, at a speed exceeding 30 miles an hour. Angus Hawthorne, who operated a motor lorry at Cave without a heavy traffic license, was fined £1 with costs 12/-. For operating a motor car at Al bury without a driver’s license. Charles Stanley Dryden was fined 15/- with costs 10/-. FALSE DECLARATION SUSTENANCE OVER-PAID Pleading guilty to a charge of obtaining employment benefits by means of a false declaration, John Edward Harding was fined £5 by Mr H. Morgan, S.M., at the Timaru Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The Employment Officer (Mr E. C. J. Foot), who prosecuted, said that for the week ending May 15 the defendant should have declared £2/3/9 that he received in the employ of the Railways Department, but his failure to do so resulted in an over-payment lof £l/2/9. When he was first interviewed the defendant denied that he worked for the Department, and had almost bluffed an officer of the Employment Office into believing that iit was a case of mistaken identity. , The defendant then claimed that as he was receiving sick pay from the Employment Office it could not possibly have been he. When later acquainted with the facts the defendant, said Mr Foot, took up an attitude of arrogant defiance. He had caused the office trouble as a result of his attitude. Mr L. M. Inglis, who appeared for the defendant, said that Harding was called on three weeks after he had done the work to make a declaration, and he had omitted the sum. It was in the first part an omission because his wife had drawn the money he had earned as he was in Waimate. His denial was that he worked in the railway goods shed, but when he realised that the work referred to was on the wharf for the Railways Department, he became afraid and tried to bluff his way out of the matter. “There has been a number of these cases and they are still coming before the Court,” said the Magistrate, who added that it was necessary to inflict punishment, which would act as a deterrent to others. He fined the defendant £5 w ; th costs 15/6, and allowed him a fortnight to pay. THEFT OF TOOLS ACCUSED GIVEN A BAD CHARACTER By Telegraph Press Association AUCKLAND, February 17. "He is a housebreaker, and a very good one too,” said Detective-Ser-geant McHugh, in the Police Court this morning referring to Sydney Gordon Ross, labourer, aged 28, who admitted stealing two kits of carpenter’s tools on October 18. Detective-Ser-geant McHugh added that this type of offence was very prevalent at the present time, remarking that the prisoner would be better out of the way for a longer period. Mr F. K. Hunt, S.M., sentenced Ross to six months’ imprisonment to be served at the expiration of a sentence of nine months’ imprisonment which Ross is at present serving for breaking, entering and theft.