MOTHER'S DREAD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 20, 25 January 1939, Page 9

MOTHER'S DREAD.

PROVED SADLY TRUE. SCHOOLGIRL KILLED. (Special.—By Air Mail.) LONDON, January 1. Every morning since September an Essex mother dreaded the thought of sending her four children to a school on the busy Chelmsford by-pass, a mile from her cottage at Writtle. Her fears were justified, for last week her six-year-old daughter,' Betty, was killed by a lorry as she crossed the main road. Up to the summer holidays, Mr. and Mrs. Day, parents of the little girl, sent their four children to the village school at Widford, which is within sight of their home. This school was condemned, and is now closed. Mr. Day said to the "Daily Herald": "I joined in a parents' strike when we had to send the children to the school on the by-pass. "Nearly 1000 children attend the school, and although they are safeguarded outside the school, nothing is done for the children who have to travel some distance along the by-pass and then cross it to get to their homes." "Betty was the first child to be killed on her way ho;ne from the school," said the mother. Driver Cleared. j "Scores of mothers, who can ill afford the time, accompany their children to and from school." At the inquest on Betty Day a verdict of accidental death was returned, and the lorry'driver. lames Purchase, of Manniiv-rtree, was exonerated from blame.