POLICE COURT.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5412, 17 April 1929, Page 2

POLICE COURT.

MONDAY’S SITTING. CASES DEALT WITH. At the Paeroa Police Court on Monday, before Mr F. W. Platts, S.M., the following cases were heard : — DRIVING WITHOUT LIGHTS. J. H. Evans was charged with driving a motor-car without lights after dark. Mr R. S. Carden, who appeared for the defendant, said his client pleaded guilty to the charge, which was not a serious one. The car in question was an old type Ford, with lights running off the dynamo. This meant that when going slowly the lights were dim, as was usual with lighting of this description. The dynamo was very powerful, and frequently burnt out the rear light.. That had occurred on this occasion, and defendant was going slowly, preparatory to stopping in order to purchase a new bulb. Had he been going faster there would have been no case. Constable Dawson gave evidence to the effect that the car was going at a speed of about 12 to 15 miles an hour. Defendant was fined 10s and costs. On a similar charge, failing to have lights on a motor-car after dark, V. G. Blott, salesman, Auckland (Mr E. A. Porritt), was convicted and discharged. NEGLIGENT DRIVING. Jack Mair (Mr C. N. O’Neill) appeared on the charge of negligently driving a service motor-car. This case arose out of a collision that occurred on March 12 near the Paeroa abattoir, and in which the defendant was involved. Police evidence was given to the effect that Mair was one of the . best drivers in- the district, but rather reckless. He had appeared in a minor traffic charge at the Waihi Police Court last month. At the time of the collision in question it was foggy. Both cars had been considerably damaged. As soon as he had returned to Waihi after the accident defendant had called at the police station and admitted that he was on the wrong side of the road when the two cars met. The road was wide, but it was foggy a t the time, and Mair, who had just turned a corner, had not had sufficient time to straighten out. into the road, the fog being the cause of the trouble. Sergeant Calwell said he considered that the fog was not so bas as to prevent defendant from seeing which side of the road he was on.

Mr O’Neill said the defendant pleaded guilty, but it was a case of bad luck. On the day in question the fog was very dense, worse than it had been tor years. The passengers in Mair’s car said they could not see the bonnet of the car. At Karangahakc the day was clear, but just after passing a bend at the foot of a hill near the abattoir-it thickened suddenly. The plea was based on the fact that the accident occurred less than a minute after reaching the fog. Mair was an experienced driver, as the police-had mentioned; but counsel disagreed with their statement that he Was reckless. Mr O’Neill also took exception to the fact that his appearance at the Waihi Court had been brought, up. That had been defendant’s first appearance on any charge, and was for a slight technical offence, one of cutting a corner while proceeding to a fire, and the Bench had taken a lenient view of the matter.

Continuing, Mr O’Neill said that Mair had been driving on that route for 12 months, averaging two trips a day ; he knew the road well, and was used to encountering fog, but on this occasion had misjudged, as the fog was of such a density he had hot met before. It was unfortunate in a way, for had he been less familiar with the road he might have driven more cautiously. As it happened, he was slowing up when the collision occurred. He had always safely negotiated other fogs, and thought this was of the usual density. When he entered it he realised the fact that it was one of extraordinary thickness, and slowed down accordingly. A minute had elapsed between the f time of entering the fog and the accident. As an experienced and careful driver he had not been on the wrond side of the road intentionally. In coming round the corner into the dense fog he could not see which side he was on at the moment. : Counsel said he did not ask for dismissal of the charge, it was too serious ; .but he hoped for leniency owing to the unfortunate circumstances of the case and other extenuating points. The Waihi-Paeroa Transport Co., in whose employ he was at the time, and whose car it was, had dismissed him in consequence. It was a decided point in defendant’s favour that the owners of an opposition company’s bus which had been closely following Mair, and the driver of which naturally knew what had happened on the spot, had immediately taken him into their employ. He was still driving fqr them. His father had been unemployed for six months, and was depending on the son to help the home. Mair was young, and fully realised the seriousness of the charge. Mr O’Neill appealed to the magistrate not to mark defendant’s license and not to give judgment that would impair the youth’s wage-earning capacity. The magistrate, in delivering judgment, said that it was a very serious thing for a service-cai* driver having the lives of passengers'at stake to drive at 15 miles an hour in a fog which was thick enough to obscure the road. He would not this time indorse the defendant’s license: but he warned him that any future appearance before the Court on a charge of this nature would certainly have to be dealt with in that manner. Defendant was fined £2, and £1 12s 6d costs, being allowed one month in which to pay. AFFILIATION ORDER. Affiliation and maintenance orders were issued against a man who was adjudged the father of an illegitimate child. Defendant was also ordered to pay £l6 10s expenses incidental to

birth, £2 2s solicitor’s fees and costs of Court, £5 back maintenance, and 12s 6d a week maintenance until the child is 16 years of age. The magistrate disallowed a claim for the cost of a perambulator, cot, baby cloths, etc;, saying that this must come out of the 12s 6d a week maintenance money.