LESSON OF A TRAGEDY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 109, 11 May 1939, Page 10

LESSON OF A TRAGEDY.

The rider added by the city coroner, Mr. F. K. Hunt, to hid finding concerning the tragic drowning at Dcvonport was unequivocal and emphatic. i:le said, in effect, that gomething more thnn the existing wurning device on the ramp o't' the ferry landing was necessary, to make impossible a repetition of such a tnipredy. That opinion will be heartily supported by the community. The mntter i.s not one affectin<? only residents, particularly motorists, on the Xorth Khore; it affects even more all motorists in other parts of Auckland, and beyond, who use the vehicular ferry only occasionally and are therefore unfamiliar with its working. The lighting of the rumps ciin be greatly improved, but it is of the essence of the coroner's rider that not only ii wiirninir, but an obstacle, id needed to prevent eiirs, whose drivers do not see or | 'l<> not lu'iml the warning, from plunging into j Ihe wiiter. Kvni if I here were culpable ' lU'gliKeiici! on tlie piift of n driver —which Inis nut 1,,.,.|i suresti>i| in this c;is< —the pennlly should not be the loss of his life or t,,( - liv '" i "f his passengi'rs. The ranip-< givinj,' access to nnd from the Terry nre :i part of the highways not under Ihu'eontrol of the Hiifhwnys Board or of a municipality, but under the Harbour Bourd, and it is to the Imiiril Ui.it tin. public will | ()() k for quick and (!cci.-i\c action to make similar tragic accidents impossible, in the future. [