NEGLIGENCE PROVED

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 138, 9 December 1930, Page 11

NEGLIGENCE PROVED

COLLISION ON HIGHWAY Ari accident in which a motor-cycle and a horse and cart were involved on the road just outside Johneonville was the subject of a claim heard by Mr. E. Page, S.jVr., in the Magistrate's Court to-day. The plaintiff was A. J. R. Hasse, of Porirua, and the defendants W. Angell and Son. The plaintiff alleged that he was coming around a corner when he | saw a horse and cart ■ driven by a servant of the defendants on the wrong side of the road. Negligence on the part of the defendant, it was alleged, caused a. collision. The defendant's explanation was that the horse was being driven across the road, a steep bitumen one, in order to take advantage of the clay portion at the side. It was contended that if there was negligence it was on the part of Hasse, who should have seen the horse and cart earlier and been able to avoid any j collision. ] After hearing the evidence, the Magistrate said that it seemed to him clear that there was negligence on the part of the defendant. For the driver of a light horse cart to wander and zig-zag across a main highway as he was doing, with modern, fast-moving traffic about, was, in the Magistrate's opinion, negligence. Concerning the allegations of negligence on the part of the plaintiff, Mr. Page said that he did not think this had been established. Tho accident was due to the negligence of the defendant's driver, and the plaintiff would have to be given a verdict. Special damages amounting to £32 14s 9d, and £5 general damages, with cost 3 amounting to £6 13s, were awarded the plaintiff. The total claim was for £87 16s Od, with costs. Mr. E. W. Bothamlcy appeared for the I plaintiff, and Mr. H. F. O'Leary for the defendants.