GOOD OLD DOC

NZ Truth, Issue 1173, 24 May 1928, Page 4

GOOD OLD DOC

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Representative.) . Whm Dr. James Watkin Harper, a young Auckland medical practitioner, had his name suppressed during a fortnight's remand on a charge of being intoxicated white m charge of a motor-car, it started a public guessingcompetition as to whether the court; m. its . much-discussed exercise of discretion, would further shield the culprit at the subsequent hearing.

QUIDNUNCS, .however, \ were foiled. At the city police court last week, Dr. Harper, arraigned before Magistrate Hunt, hopped into the dock to resign himuelf to the full potions of justice and took his medicine /without asking- for the plum-jam camouflage of name- suppression. In any case, the publication of the doctor's name, m the event of a conviction, was inevitable. The thunderclap of public resentment which rattled round Magistrate Cutten's eara— as an aftermath of his recent "exercise of discretion" m suppressing the name of another young doctor, who pleaded guilty to a similar charge— has torn holes m the professional" curtain of argument m favor of name suppression. It was a fairly safe bet to have said that a stiff poultice, prescribed from the full ingredients of punishment, awaited the next professional man whose unsuccessful efforts to mix the wine with the wheel brought him before a magisterial dispensary. How Harper came to be the subject of a prosecution on which most m'asjls- , trates now frown with an angry brow, was narrated by Senior-Sergeant Cummings with further details added by Lawyer R. McVeagh, acting on behalf of the accused doctor. . On the evening of April 30, Harper,

who resides m Great South Road, New Lynn, responded to the call of cc^ivivial companionship by jumping into his two-seater car and hiking citywards to join a few friends m the tempting seclusion of a city hotel. The doc, it would seem, wined not wisely, but too well, ami when it came to getting home about ten p.m. — well, from what transpired, the medico was, for the rest of the night, "out" to all his patients, "however urgent the call. "Out" to his clientele, but "m" to the police! Let. us join the doctor as he. drove down Shortland Street, this being the route mentioned by . counsel as the road that led to home. • "Steady doc! . •. . coming into Queen Street . . . that's rightbreaks on — arm out — to the left? . . Righto! "She's sweet, . doc. . . .no trams . . . round we go . . . . Splendid! . . . on the straight and PLENTY of room. "Keep ypur. eye open for that horrid little Vulcan Lane . .. . Yes, just here on your left, and Wyndham Street almost opposite . . . "Yes, it's a dirty night . . . What the— how the — when the — ! !" Perhaps we had better leave the doc's car 'before it jumps the safetyzone, as it did on its way to an argument with a centre-pole. C«ntre-poles, being part of the city tram service, are naturally averse to I X

motor- vehicles; standing like silent sontinels to the tramcar right-of-way, they usually hold their ground most loyally when it comes to any dispute. , What Dr. Harper was doing with the steering-wheel of his car is another matter. Perhaps he allowed' the motorist's slogan: "Safety First," to enter his mind just as he was mentally mixing a "To be well shaken" prescription; at all events, the tram "safety-zone was quickly transformed into a "danger zone." And when the' police came on the scene they found Harper's condition to be, as the prosecution later described it: "Such that he could •have been arrested apart from any offence connected with a motor car. On behalf of accused, Lawyer McVeagh asked the court to take into consideration certain circumstances surrounding the accident. ■ Harper, said counsel, had suffered a deal of expense, m the damage to the car. .•■■■■' ■ . ■ ■ •■■•.•" '. ■ '. Repairs would certainly . cost from £15 to £20. and there was yet a likelihood of.it being as much as £50. Personal injuries had also been sustained, "In the collision my client suffered injuries to. his head, arm and shoulder, which had the effect of dazing Tiim. "I think that can be taken into ac-

count for the police taking an extrem( view of his condition when he was ar< vested. He also spent one night ir custody." / Describing the scene of the accident counsel said "It was a vile night, ye) my client, who left the hotel aboui 9.45 p.m., negotiated his journey dowr Shortland Street into Queen Street without mishap . ." „ . „ '••.'.'. i "The condition .of the toad m tin neighborhood of the accident is — owing to there toeing a tram-stop there--particularly greasy arid oily. "This was aggravated by the . wet night and the car skidded as a result. The car came into collision with a trampole_, but it was not a case of life or limb m danger." Quoting from "American . Statute,' counsel asked the bench to differentiate 'between a state of intoxicatior and drunkenness, which iwere held tc be two different degrees- of insobriety : "The American Interpretation is almost parallel with that of. a receni medical . conference m London," saic his worship. . ' ' Then came the "poultice, ' applied tc Harper's pocket to the tune of fiftj notes. "This is a very serious offence," declared the bench, "but I have not cancelled his license because^ it is necessary to his profession; if I took ii from him I might be causing undue suffering to others." . iiiiiiuiiii iiiiiiuiiiiii iiiii minimi »«m m """J" 1 )")!'"""""',""""*