CYCLISTS CHARGED

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 209, 20 September 1937, Page 6

CYCLISTS CHARGED

Road Across Westshore Footbridgc REGULATIONS CHALLENGED When 11 Westshore cyclisls were charged before Mr. J, Miller, S.M., with riding across the f oot-bridge between Westshore and Port Ahuriri, they pleaded not guilty, and challenged the section of the Tarffic Regulations under whieh the charge was laid. Stating that the residents of .Westshore felt that they had cause for complaint against the -Hawke's Bay County Council because the unfenced pof» tion of . the embankment leading to the bridge was unfenced, Mr. C. W. Nash submitted that the section in question was ultra vires. Decision was reserved. Sergeant G. F. Bonisch appeared for the police, and Mr. Nash for the defendants. Mr. Nash submitted that the section of the Traffic Regulations, 1936, under which the prosecution was. laid, wa* ultra vires, contending that the powex of the Governor-General to make regulations in regard to other traffic had been exceeded in this instance because, being on a footway, they did not affect motor traffic. Thus, despite their extension from the provisions of- the 1824 Tegulations, the' present regulations did not cover the prosecution. Had the prosecution been laid under the Public Works • Act, the submission would have been made that the bridge was not a footway. A footpath was not defined under the Act. v Sergeant Bonisch submitted that the purport of the section was quite clear, despite the point raised by Mr. Nash.