Magistrate’s Court INCINERATOR RUBBISH FIRE TECHNICAL BREACH OF ACT

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28266, 2 May 1957, Page 14

Magistrate’s Court INCINERATOR RUBBISH FIRE TECHNICAL BREACH OF ACT

William D. Murie. who was represented by Mr B. G. Dingwall, pleaded not guilty in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday to lighting a fire in the open air in Macmillan avenue on February 9 when there was a close season for fires. Mr G. A. Nicholls. S.M., was on. the Bench. Mr A. C. Perry appeared for the Heathcote County Council.

The case for the council was that Murie was burning garden rubbish for a neighbour. The fire was in an incinerator, an oil drum, and the fire brigade was called. It was a closed fire season and no permits were issued for fires.

Mr Dingwall said that the prosecution was brought under the Forest and Rural Fires Act but, he submitted, the act did not apply to an urban area like Cashmere. The burning of a fire in an incinerator in a garden was not a fire “in the open air.” The fire had not escaped from the drum and no damage was caused. After hearing evidence, the Magistrate said there had been a technical breach of the act. The defendant and others in the area must obtain permits before lighting fires outside the house, whether the fire was lit in a barbecue or a drum. In the special circumstances it did appear that there was no danger of the fire spreading and the case would be dismissed under Section 42 of the Criminal Justice Act. Mr Perry said that two other residents had lit fires in drums and were being prosecuted. The Magistrate said that the county council had made its point

It was for counsel to say whether he would proceed with the other two cases. The one just heard would be a warning to residents in the area.

Mr Perry said he would expect the same verdict in the other two cases so he would withdraw the informations by leave of the Court.

Leave was granted and the informations were withdrawn. CARAVAN IN PARK

Douglas Christopher McLeod pleaded guilty to parking a caravan between March 2 and March 26 in a public place, Broad Park, North Beach. He was fined £l. Mr I. D. Bennetts, for the Waimairi County Council, said that caravans had been allowed to park in Broad Park but it had been decided to stop this because there were no suitable sanitary arrangements. The occupiers of . caravans were told in December that they would have to move. On March 2. formal notice was served on those still there. McLeod was still occupying a caravan in the park, but said he would be moving on Saturday. CASE ADJOURNED

William Richardson, who was represented by Mr G. S. Brockett, pleaded not guilty to a charge of parking a caravan in Broad Park between March 2 and March 26.

After the case was part heard, the Magistrate adjourned it to May 29. Mr Brockett said that up to February 21 the caravans were there with the permission of the Waimairi Cou/ity Council. Richardson would say he could neither read nor write and did not know what was in the notice handed to him on March 2. He only rented the caravan and the owner, who put it there, should have been served with the notice to move it. The case was adjourned for one month for the caravan to be moved. NO PERMIT FOR DRAIN Dick Hovius was fined £2 for constructing a drain on a property in Gardiners road when he did not have a permit. PUT RUBBISH ON ROAD Ronald Govan Todd was fined £1 for putting hedge clippings and branches on Grays road, Harewood, on February 17. Roy Gale Dawson was fined £2 for placing rubbish on Turners road on March 26. SHOPKEEPERS FINED E. J. Betts was fined £4 for not closing his grocery shop, where non-exempted goods were exposed for sale, at 5.30 p.m. on Monday. January 28. Mr R. J. Weir, of the Labour Department, prosecuted. GROCER CONVICTED Leo Francis Jenkins, a grocer (Mr J. G. pleaded not guilty to failing to close his shop in Jeffreys road on Saturday, February 2. The Magistrate held that there had been a breach but not a blatant one and the defendant would be convicted and ordered to pay costs. UNLAWFULLY ON PREMISES Clara Emily Kennedy, aged 65, and Stella Walsh, aged 24, pleaded guilty to a charge of being found without lawful excuse on the enclosed building of R. C. Rollo, Ltd., Horatio street on April 30. Inspector C. H. Reardon said that at 11 p.m. on April 30 a constable saw the two defendants asleep on the floor of a washhouse in Horatio street. Neither had money with which to pay board. Both were known to the police. Each accused was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence if called on within six months. REMANDED Brian Carrington, aged 27, a workman, was remande 1 to May 6 on a charge that on April 30 he unlawfully converted a motorcycle valued at £2OO, the property of James Hura.