Motorist Asks if This is Justice

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 465, 21 September 1928, Page 1

Motorist Asks if This is Justice

DRIVER REFUSED COSTS INNOCENT OF OFFENCE. “Although defendants are put to trouble and expense, costs are not awarded against the City Council when charges against motorists fail/’ complains a correspondent. In a letter to The Sun, “Blind Goddess” quotes the following instance of what he describes as a “miscarriage of justice.” May I call attention to what I con-

sider a flagrant miscarriage of justice which was perpetrated at the Magistrate’s Court last Wednesday? I was in court on Wednesday when Mr. G. R. Hogan, chief City Council traffic officer, proceded against a Bay of Plenty motorist for driving at a / dangerous speed down Khyber Pass Road on the evening- o t August 10. Counsel for the' motorist produced statements from residents of defendant’s home town, including the vicar, showing that both defendant and his car were in the Bay of Plenty district on August 10, and that, moreover, the car was- partially dismantled at the time.

To that Mr. Hogan replied that he was certain he took the number of the speeding car correctly. The case was dismissed, but a request for costs made by counsel, whose client had been put to considerable expense over the case, was not sustained. “Even if defendant were not in town, we are satisfied that his num-ber-plate was,” said one of the justices of the peace who were on the Bench. Surely, sir, the injustice of this refusal to award costs against the City Council is deplorable. When the City Council wants costs after winning a case, it gets them. Is the principle not capable of reversal? At least one of the presiding justices was a motorist. Perhaps he was afraid that, if he awarded costs against the council, traffic department inspectors would turn the evil eye on him.

In my opinion it is decidedly questionable whether justices should be allowed to play at being magistrates in city courts.