HAWERA.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 March 1922, Page 6

HAWERA.

MAGISTRATE’S COURT. MOTOR COLLISION CASE. (By Our Special Reporter.) March 21. A sitting of the Magistrate's Court was held at Hawera to-day before Mr. A. M. Mowlem, S.M. George Preece, of Matapu, claimed. £B4 4s 3d from Edward Norman, of Ararata, for damages alleged to have been sustained to his car through a collision at Matapu with a horse and cart owned by Norman, the cause allegedly being negligence on the part of Norman. Mr. Spratt appeared for plaintiff and Mr. Bailey for defendant. Outlining the case, plaintiff’s counsel said that Preece was driving his ear along the Hastings Road at Matapu on the night of June 28 last. ' The night was dark, and the car was suddenly struck by a runaway horse and cart. The evidence would show that the horse had been left unattended outside the Matapu store. It had a propensity to bolt, and it would be shown that proper care had not been taken with the horse at the store. If it was proved that the horse was not properly cared for the onus was placed on the defendant. The fact that the horse and eart had been left unattended ana withotft lights was a breach of the bylaws. A defence of contributary negligence would probably be raised. If so, it would be on the defendant to prove negligence on the part of Preece. Preece gave evidence that on the night in question he left Hawera at about 6 p.m., himself driving the car. The night was very dark. Just as he was turning into Hastings Road he saw defendant driving a cart without lights. He drove to a neighbor’s place, and when he was returning home the horse and cart crashed into his car. Thinking that defendant would be in the cart witness got out of his car and found the horse with its head lying where witness had been sitting, its forepart being on the running boat’d and its hindquarters on the road. He founa no driver of the cart. Witness called for help, and a neighbor named Willis came on the scene, but he too failed to find the driver of the cart.

Cross-examined, witness said he had driven the car for about six years, and at night quite frequently. His opinion was that the horse and cart struck the car -from the side. It did not come down the tarred road in front oi him. He denied telling witnesses that he flung himself out of the ear and let it go on when he saw the cart. He said he flung himself from under the wheel. He felt the impact and saw the horse simultaneously. He did not lose his head, but was quite calm and collected. He had never seen defendant’s horse give any trouble, but he knew it to be very fresh. Mrs. Ellen Wilson, of Matapu, gave evidence os to the character of the horse in question. She saw a -horse galloping past her house on Christmas Eve. It was attached to a gig but had no driver. She believed this to be Norman’s horse.

Other witnesses gave evidence to the effect that there was no evidence of any appliances on the cart or harness whereby the horse might have been tied up. There was no hitching post at the Matapu store where the horse was alleged to have been standing previous to its bolting. For the defence Mr. Bailey said tne horse had been tied up at the store, which was a reasonable practice. It broke away and ran down the road. His evidence would show that the car was on the wrong side of the road, that Preece had admitted that he jumped from the car before striking the cart, and that if he had not lost his head he could have avoided the collision. The defendant, Edward Norman, said he did not see Preece in his car on the road shortly before the accident. He was driving in his cart to the Matapu store, where he tied the horse up in the usual manner. The lights on the cart went out shortly before reaching the store. He went into the store to get a candle for his lights, and when he eame out the horse had gone. The previous witness could not nave seen bis horse bolting on Christmas Eve, as it was then at Ararata, and did not return till 10 p.m. The case for the defence was proceeding when the court adjourned. TRADESMAN’S CLAIM. F. Gillanders claimed £7 7s 8d from J. Munro in settlement of an account for goods supplied. Munro appeared on his own behalf and denied having received the goods. Evidence as to the sale and delivery of the goods was given by A. S. Rogers and H. A. McLeod, clerk and carter respectively in the employ of Gillanders, as to the sale and delivery of the goods. . Judgment was given for plaintiff for £7 5s and costs £2 7s. BREACH OF ORDER. Horace McCabe, charged with procuring liquor while being a prohibited person, was fined £2 and costs 7s. BY-LAW CASE. William Kellard. on a charge of driving a motor car on High Street without a rear light, was fined ss, costs is. < CIVIL CASES. Judgment for plaintiff by default was given in the following undefended cases' R. L. McGarvie v. M. MeGarvie, zT (costs £1 10S 6d);.J. Chambers and Son, Ltd. v. George Dives, £5l 14s 6d (costs £5 0s od); James and Gill™*” Motors, Ltd. v. Isiah Gordon, £lB 4s 2d (costs 18s 6d) ; L. Houlahan y. Dose Mato), £6 17s lOd (costs £2 18s); Mrs M. C. Gibson v. A. Wolfe, £3 (costs £1 9s 6d); E. O’Rielly v. J. Heal, £3 4s 5d (costs £1 13s 6d); J. v ’ Billy Morehu, £4 10s (costs £1 4s 6d) , J F. Gillanders v. M. Mulligan £S Is 6d (costs £1 13s 6d); J. Blake and Sons v. Fred Jewell, £8 6s 6d (costs £ A. 'l’ Wolfe, at the suit of C. E. Brooke, was ordered to pay £lB Is 6d and solicitor’s fee of £1 Is forthwith, in default eighteen days’ warrant to be suspended if half of the amount is paid in a month and the balance within two months. BUILDER’S CLAIM. Further lengthy argument was beard in the case in which John Muir Thomson builder, of New Plymouth, claim•d £Td6 14b 3d from Stanley Buckrell,

of Whakamara. The case was partially heard at previous sittings of the court. 'The claim was for work done and materials supplied by Thomson in the repairing of a house for Buckrell, ana the question before the court was whether the work for which the claim was made formed part of the contract, or was done on the basis of time and material. Mr. L. A. Taylor appeared for plai/tiff and Mr. F. C. Spratt for defendant. The case was concluded and His Worship reserved his decisioa