NEWS BY MAIL.

Hokitika Guardian, 25 July 1928, Page 1

NEWS BY MAIL.

WHEN A MAN IS DRUNK. A NEW DICTUM. LONDON, May 21. The controversy between the Bench and the medical profession as to when a man, and especially a motorist, is drunk is revived by a new dictum of Fr. Old ton, the Lambeth magistrate, yesterday. He was dealing with a case in which a motorist was charged with drunkenness, and he said: ; DriilnkeniiesJi. Which is punishable may be something less than drunk and incapable, or drunk and disorderly. Surely the test- of drunkenness when applied to charges of drunk in charge of a car, of a child, of a steam engine, or of firearms must be a definite loss of control due to drink. If the evidence medical or otherwise, shows that owing to the consumption of alcohol a 1 man is unable safely to control a car of which he has charge, that man is guilty of an offence. This view differs from that of other magistrates. T am not hound however, by what may he magesterial misinterpretations of what the Lord Chief Justice said. LORD HEW ART’S RULING. When the problem was recently discussed in the Court of Criminal Appeal Lord Hewart, the Lord Chief Justice, ruled that “drunk means drunk.” Sir Robert Wallace, K.C., the chairman of London Sessions, has held that “under the influence of drink” does not mean drunk and that a drunken motorist is one “who took intoxicating liquors so ns to disturb his mental balance and rendered himself unsafe to he in charge of a motorcar.” Mr Bingley, the Mnrylebone magistrate, refuses to allow a doctor to differentiate between the drunkenness of a motorist and that of a pedestrain, and his colleague, Air Hay Hnlkett, has ruled that the law does not require a higher degree of sobriety in persons in charge of motorcars than in persons waking in the street. A committee appointed by the British Medical Association failed to find a standard test of sobriety.

LURE OF A CIRCUS. NF.W YORK, June 5. The lure of a circus sent 19 coolies into mutiny yesterday on board the British steamer Comerie, but instead of seeing the circus the coolies found themselves in gaol. ~ The Comerie, commanded by Captain Livingston, arrived from Liverpool last Tuesday and docked off Staten Island. The coolies wished to go ashore, but the captain was not going to pay a fine of £2OO for each one that took the risk. The music from a circus disturbed the coolies, but for a few clays they only scowled and murmured among themselves. Yesterday however. Captain Livingston was walking the deck alone when 15 firemen dashed out of the forecastle and attacked him with clubs and axes. Fortunately he was able to- reach the safety of his cabin without injury. The c-oclies. apparently reluctant to make use of their freedom, retired for a consultation. The captain saw his opportunity slipped ashore and summoned the police. Tho c-oolics then got ashore, hut only to be locked up.