THE RISKS YOU TAKE.

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 210, 4 September 1924, Page 8

THE RISKS YOU TAKE.

SOME CITY BY-LAWS. i • ■ . ! i ~ - J BROKEN EVERT BAY. If you happened to own a cat, or pet dog, and it died, where would you bury it? In the yard. Of course you would, ami you wouldn't think twice about it, either. That little act would just leave you open to be prosecuted- and fined | under the city by-laws, which prohibit the burial of any animal within the j city. This is only one of the many bylaws which the majority .of citizens are either in ignorance of or don't think lit worth whilp to respect. There are others—hardly a day passes without the finances of every citizen being at least in danger, and there are a hundred and one by-laws which are shattered daily, many quite in ignorance. For instance, it is an offence under the city by-laws to run into those safety zones erected Iby tho council. It doesn't look as if motorists were aware of this. To push a wheelbarrow along the footpath, or even in the water channel, could be charged for at anything up to £2 a time, but perhaps the most ignored of all the by-laws is the one which prohibits expectorating on the footpaths. There is a lot of money waiting to be collected here. A few pounds could be gathered from shopkeepers who handle I a broom after eight o'clock each morni ing and sweep the pathway in front of their premises. Then the gardener who lights a lire to burn his rubbish runs the risk of a prosecution unless he has told the town clerk about it first. That by-law must be fractured beyond repair by now. Children who Hy kites, use a catapult, play football, blow a trumpet or horn, knock at a door ("postman's : knock") and annoy persons by so doing I may be hauled before a magistrate and lined or spanked, while everybody who throws fruit skins on the street or . footpath takes a risk of a fine. The same applies to pieces of paper. The , ladies arc liable to prosecution if they wear a protruding hatpin with an un- . covered point, but this doesn't really matter now, as the ladies have discarded the use of hatpins long ago. Patrons of the-baths, most of them, take a risk at almost every visit, as i the time limit is 30 minutes, but if ; a beach is preferred then nobody in bathing costume is allowed to remain on the beach longer than is necessary to' pass . from the water to the' dressing shed. . •Some bathers must take cramp when j they leave the water! Patrons of the library and particularly those who arrive early in the . evening .and start a game of chess or . draughts might justly be excused for dropping off to sleep while waiting for an opponent to move a king, but there ' is a by-law which prohibits sleeping in ( the' library. , But the City Council does not rc&pect . its own laws. As owner of the tramways, it provides that each car shall ( carry- a , board with letters distinctly visible and legible to notify. intending passengers when such a car is full, such boards to be at all times" effectively, lighted. Still the -service has a good way of intimating when the.ear is full— by the conductor-putting the-chains up. Another, little item which is not .carried out is the placing in each car of a copy of the table of fares. Betting on football matches or bathing in the Domain i pond are regarded with disfavour, and : might easily land an offender in trouble, ' but a.' bathe in the Domain pond is not likely to appeal-to other than a few ' ducks. ' ■All these, or most of them, are little ' items that citizens take risks with every [.' day. ' „ !