THE LIABILITY OF ROAD BOARDS AND COUNTY COUNCILS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 2988, 8 September 1891, Page 2

THE LIABILITY OF ROAD BOARDS AND COUNTY COUNCILS.

The outcome of the case tried at tho Jlast sitting of the Suprome Court at Invercargill, in which a Southland farmer obtained substantial damages from the Wallace County Council, for inj iries sustained by the collapse of a defective culvert should induce Road Boards and Councils to see that highways under their control are kept in a (iti state for traffic. It appears that the plaintiff, Mr .f. Finn, was riding home one night at a canter, and one of the planks of tho culvert having become detached. Ilia horse put its foot through the hole and Finn cjoiinp to the ground _ heavily, sustained injuries to his sniue as will for years, if not for life, prevent him performing ordinary work. The defence set up was that that the road was under ordinary supervision, and that the Council could nor be hold guilty of neglect, inasmuch as tho damage to the culvert must have taken place by some heavy wheel traffic (presumably a threshing mill) passing over it shortly before the accident happened. The jury found that the culvert was not in a reasonable state of repair ; that the Council should have been aware of its condition, and that the officers of the Council did uot take reasonable care to make themselves acquainted with the stato of tho culvert. Together with the special damages (6840), the action will cost the Council something like £1200, and, as Wallace is one of the counties the Auditor is constantly requesting to curtail its expenditure, the overdraft frequently rising over tho legal limit, the ratepayers are not likely to _ have many works performed in their district for a long time to come.