PETERSFIELD.
DRIVING TO A CLUB FEAST.—IMPORTANT TO VAN KEEPERS.—At the Petty Sessions, on Tuesday,—Present, J. Bonham, Esq., M.P. (Chairman), J. Waddington, Esq., and Major Briggs.
— George Lillywhite was charged, on the information of Edwin Goodwin, an officer of excise, with using a stage carriage without a license.—Mr. Field (Gosport) appeared for the prosecution, and opened the case by stating that the information was laid under 2 and 3 William IV., c.120, sec. 27, which inflicted a penalty of £20 upon any person who should keep, use, or employ a stage carriage without a license, and defined such stage carriage to be one used for the conveyance of passengers, and travelling at the rate of three miles an hour or upwards, the rate of travelling was by a subsequent act (6 and 7 William IV.) extended to four miles an hour. The facts of the case were very simple, and he should prove that defendant on the 29th of June last drove a van from Harting to Petersfield, a distance of more than four miles, in little more than half an hour, that there were several passengers, and that defendant received fare from those passengers. He called Henry James Lucas, who deposed as follows: I am Supervisor of Excise, and live at Petersfield. On the evening of the 29th June, as I was posting a letter, I saw a van pass along the bottom of High-street, it was drawn by two horses; a boy was riding the foremost horse, and defendant was driving. There were several passengers in the van, and it stopped at Mr. Bailey’s; Mrs. Bailey got out, and I saw her give defendant a silver coin, but could not see what it was. This was a few minutes before nine; the distance from the White Hart, at Harting, to Petersfield is 4⅛ miles. Defendant is not licensed to use a stage carriage.—James Watts deposed: I live at Harting, in the service of Mr. Mundy. On the 29th June I had to wait for my master coming home, and while waiting I saw defendant drive a van drawn by two horses, with a boy riding the foremost horse, from the Ship, at Harting, in the direction of Petersfield. This was at half-past eight o’clock; I know that was the time because I looked at my watch, as it was the time my master had ordered me to be waiting for him. Robert Pledge and John Ewens gave similar evidence; but the latter, in cross-examination by the defendant, said he could not swear that it was after eight o’clock, but he thought it was.—This being the case for the prosecution, defendant admitted having driven the van on the occasion, but could not say whether at the rate of four miles an hour or more. There was a club feast that day at Harting, and he was not aware that he was doing wrong by driving over. He handed to the magistrates several letters which had passed between him and the Board of Inland Revenue, the purport of which as far as it transpired was that the Board had offered to stay proceedings if defendant would take out a license for three horses instead of one, which he had consented to do, and had paid £5, but the Board required a further payment of £6 5s. (whether as fine or costs did not appear), to which defendant demurred, alleging that he understood that the £5 which he had paid was to cover everything. The magistrates having consulted, the Chairman said they thought it just possible defendant had acted in error, and they also thought that he might have been somewhat misled by the first letter from the Board. Under these circumstances the sentence was that he be fined in the mitigated penalty of £5, together with the costs, £2 18s.