J.P'S. AND DRUNKEN DRIVERS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 141, 1 July 1937, Page 4

J.P'S. AND DRUNKEN DRIVERS

-Press Association.)

Mr Semple's Remarks Cause Resentment UNJUST ASPER8I0N

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CHRISTCHURCH, This Day* Resentment At the suggesti,on of ths Mindfeter of Transport, the Hon, B. Semplfc, that the: law shOuld be amendctl to remove eeft^in traffic offences from the jurisdictioii^af Justices of the Peace was expressed in a feeOlutiofi. passed at the annual meeting of the Canterbury Justices of the \Peace AsSOoiatidn last evening. j , Mr Bemple roferred in Christchurch last week to the deeision of ttvo jtisticCs in a Blenheim case in which a matofist, pleading guilty to a charge of being intoxicated in charge of ft car, "WSS fined £5, his name being suppre^sed. Mr Sempie deseribed it as "a glarang demonstration of the leniency .with which some Justices of the PeaCe view cases of drunken drivers brought befor* jlhem." It seemed, he said, as if tho only option left to him in his campaigu • against drunkennees on the roads was ito amend the law "60 that Judgments f of this kind cannot be given by Justice# { iof the Peace*" ( \ Mr A. H* Hobbs, president ef thi | .Canterbury assoeiation, moved the foi- S ; lowing resdlution, which Was dafriedi «"That this meeting of the Canterbury •Justices of the Peace A&sociatiqn, while j oomjnending the Ministef of Tfaiispott for his efforts to 'make the highway# .and byways as safe as possible by getling rid of drunken drivers,' strongly resents his remarks as reported last Friday* We consider that the fact that two Justices at Blenheim recently fined a person who pleaded guilty to a chafg# of drunkenness while in charge of a Car ' the palti'y amOlint of £5 and had ilot endorsed his licence. but had ordered * the suppression of his name,' although difficult to under stand, was not isufiicient cause for the remarks of th# Minister, Such remarks east tii aspersion on the whole of the Justices i# ■ New Zehland, and we would suggest that before taking such dfastic action as he has indicated, he should xeprimand the Justices implicated. Any assisfaitc# which the department may desire would be whole-heartedly rendered by thi# braneh and by our federated body."