Intoxicated Motorists Threatened with Gaol

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 741, 14 August 1929, Page 1

Intoxicated Motorists Threatened with Gaol

ANOTHER £SO FINE

0F FENCE IN BROADWAY

Commenting on the number of intoxicated motorists dealt with in the Police Court recently, Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., said this morning that it had been suggested that offenders should be sent to gaol if fines continued to prove no deterrent. “We shall have to consider that soon,” remarked the magistrate. Joseph Clarke, an engineer, aged 32, was fined £SO for being intoxicated in charge of a motor-car in Broadway. Newmarket, on Saturday. His driving licence was cancelled for 12 months. Mr. Moody appeared for him, and entered a plea of guilty. According to Sub-Inspector McCarthy, a constable had seen Clarke driving erratically in Broadway about 3 p.m. on Saturday. 'The man had narrowly escaped colliding with a tram, so the constable had given chase, boarding a tram and catching Clarke when he was held up in a. traflic jam. When the motorist had left his car, he had been so far gone that he had had to hang on to it to support himself.

Mr. Moody said that Clarke was not an engineer, as the charge sheet described him. He was holding a temporary position as a. car salesman on commission. “The engine stalled, and that is what drew the attention of the constable to him,” said counsel. "He is prepared to take out a prohibition order if he is allowed to retain his licence. I ask for leniency on his behalf. There was not much traffic, and, it the order is taken out, there will be no fear of Clarke taking drink again.” “Broadway is the worst place in the city for a man to be drunk in a. car,” commented the magistrate. “I shall treat this man the same as I did a young man who was arrested recently in the same place.” Clarke was given 14 days in which to find the money.