LIVE CHAR EMBERS

CARELESS MOTORISTS

The carelessness of some motorists in dropping live char embers from motor-car gas producers was referred to today by the City Engineer, Mr. K. E. Luke, whcus head of the traffic department. Mr. Luke said that it was an offence for a motor vehicle owner to unload char ashes on to a public or private road or reserve, as thereby they were committing a nuisance. In the" country, he said, some of the local bodies were alive to the nuisance and the menace which existed in char embers, and in order to instil some idea of tidiness were placing drums here and there into which embers must be placed. There were places in Wellington which were being ■: made unsightly by the depositing of char ember on the side of back roads and lanes', and steps would be taken to see that the nuisance 'was checked, though it was a.difficult matter to'catch offenders in the act. He hoped they would take this as a warning, and only clean out and refuel.their generators when they could dispose of the embers without creating a public nuisance. They must always see to it that the embers were dead before they left.

If a car owner must refuel on a country road, his bouhden duty was to bury the embers under a few inches of earth or sand, so that the wind would not fan them alive. It was believed in some provincial quarters that some of the recent fires in the North Island may have originated in hot embers from gas producer plants. ■