DANGER OF FIRES

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22906, 30 December 1939, Page 2

DANGER OF FIRES

ADVICE TO MOTORISTS NEED FOR COURTESY AND CAREFULNESS “Take extreme care to see that nothing you do this summer will mar the beauty of any places you visit when touring, camping, or picnicking,” says the latest road safety message of the Automobile Association, Canterbury. “It should be emphasised that the rights of those who use the countryside for their holiday pleasures are very few, if they exist at all. We are all sharers of common privileges, and it is the bounden duty of everyone to ensure that those privileges are not abused. Abuse of the freedom now enjoyed by motorists, caravaners, campers, and picnickers may mean the imposition of restrictions, so that the careful many may have to suffer for the thoughtlessness of the careless few.

“Those who enter upon public reserves do so under the strict rule that they are permitted there to view and admire. They are not allowed to destroy, take, or despoil plant life, any more than they are allowed to do so in any part of the country side which does not belong to them. Nor is the killing or taking of bird life sanctioned, and firearms are not permitted' in certain areas.

“Every effort should be made by everyone to ensure that litter is not left about; the regulations governing sanitation should be rigorously obeyed; camping and picnic ground rules should be obeyed to the letter; fires, if lighted in places where fireplaces are not constructed for use, should be safe at all times, and thoroughly quenched before leaving.

“In past seasones considerable damage to pasture land, buildings, bush, fencing. . and live stock has been caused through carelessness with fires. The motorist should see that no blame of that sort can be ascribed to his lack of care. And lighted cigarette ends should not be cast from cars into the dry grass by the roadside. There are many kinds of safety. Some of them are alluded to here.”