INTOXICATED IN CHARGE OF CAR

Southland Times, Issue 24826, 19 August 1942, Page 3

INTOXICATED IN CHARGE OF CAR

At a special sjtting of the Magistrate’s Court at Otautau before Mr R- C. Abernethy. S.M., David Black was charged with being intoxicated in charge of a car. Mr Hodges appeared for the defendant and in pleading guilty said he regretted that the defendant had had no opportunity afforded him for a medical examination. Constable White said the inspectors had noticed the defendant driving in an erratic manner on the Fairfax-Calcium road and had taken him to Otautau. The doctor had been communicated with, but he had refused to come. Apart from this offence, the defendant was a law-abiding citizen. In convicting and fining the defendant £3O, and ordering his licence to be cancelled for two years, the Magistrate said that on account of his age he was not going to send the defendant to gaol. Commenting on the. attitude of the doctor, the Magistrate said that in a border-line case, or where a man was suffering from some disease, a doctor might enable him to retain his liberty. The police and experienced traffic inspectors, however, were as able to make sound deductions whether a man was intoxicated by his walk, manner and general behaviour. No injustice had been done in this case.