CAB V. TRAM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8244, 17 February 1905, Page 2

CAB V. TRAM.

4 r • A COLLISION IN HIGH STREET. At tne Magistrate's Court this morning, before, Mr W. H. Cooper, J.P., and Mr J. H. Stringer, J.P., Frederick Allen, a cabman, was charged with negligent driving in High Street on ttie evening of February 10. Mr Flesher appeared for the defendant, who pleaded not guilty. F. Musgrave, a driver employed on the Sumner section of the Christchurch tramways, said that on the evening in question he was driving, the tram from Sumner, and. reached the Caversham .corner shortly before eleven o'clook. In High Street hei s„w a vehicle, with two' lights, coming from the opposite direction on the tram lines. He rang the .alarm bell on tho engine frequently, but the driver of the vehicle did : not pull out of the fairway. He applied the brakes, but they did not act soon enough to avert a collision. The shaft of the cab struck the engine and the horse fell. Witness understood the horse was so badly injured that it had to be destroyed. . . ' In cross-examination by Mr Flesher, witness said that at the place where the accident happened there were two sets of rail?, and the tram was on the off-side rails. That was certainly not the proper side of the road, but the other metals were seldom used". Ho had only used them once. No order had been issued to him- to use them. Constable Harvey said that he reached the scene shortly after the accident.. The defendant was. drunk at the time. The defendant stated that he had been driving a cab in Christchurch; for about twelve years, ahd his only previous appearance in Court • had been for trotting over crossings and driving without a light. On the evening of the accident) he left the Empire Hotel ' stand at ten minutes to eleven. Owing to the sharpness of the curve of the line at the Caversham and the failure of the driver to ring the bell he was close on the tram. In trying to get off the line the wheel of his cab skidded against a projecting rail, and he had to back his horse in order to give the driver of <tne tram a chance to pullup.- j-he driver did not pull' up .at once, arid the collision occurred. His horse broke its leg and had ta be destroyed. He had had "three or ; four small beers V that evening, but was quite capable of driving his cab. Marshall Ingle stated that he left the stand at twenty minutes past ten, and the defendant was then sober and in a fit condition "to drive anyone's cab. ' ' The tramway metals where the accident occurred were projecting above the roadway, aiid would certainly contribute to the collision by preventing defendant getting clear of the lines in time. ■ •*"' -^ . Four other cabmen gave corrobora- t tive evidence. Frederick Allen, 1 sen., father of the defendant, gave evidence to the effect that he had examined the lines a. the place of the collision on the following day, and he found them for some distance projecting from an inch to an ■ inoh and a quarter above the roadway. Men had since been employed filling up the lines to.the road level. The Bench decided to dismiss the information as according to the evidence .^o tramway lines were not in a proper condition at the time.