TRANSPORT FOR SPECTATORS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27224, 16 December 1953, Page 12

TRANSPORT FOR SPECTATORS

SPECIAL PASSENGER INSURANCES PROVISION FOR USE OF PRIVATE CARS (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, December 15. Special passenger insurance covers are to be made available to car owners who carry passengers to centres to be visited by the Queen. Any public school committee or headmaster organising a group of private car owners to transport children may obtain a group cover for all the owners. For Is a day, a £2OOO passenger cover will be obtained for each car. The minimum premium is 5s a school. The insurance will cover the liability of the school committee and/or the owner, and/or the driver of the car. This cover can be obtained also for private and church schools, or orphanages, or by local authorities arranging for free transport of children. Special covers are also available for the car owner who gives his neighbour a lift into town.

A passenger insurance cover will be granted for the express purpose of reaching and returning from a centre which the Queen for the time being is visiting on these terms: amount of cover, £2000; term, three days: premium, ss. A higher cover may be obtained.

A Government announcement today stated that these special covers were available through nearly all insurance companies handling motor-car insurance. Early application should be made. Aims of New Provisions

These short-term covers should have two good effects, said the announcement. They should increase the number of people transported to the centres, and decrease the number of vehicles on the road by enabling one full car with passenger cover to be used instead of two half-empty ones. The terms on which truck and lorry owners may use their vehicles temporarily to carry passengers have already been announced. Insurance for these vehicles gives a £5OOO cover for each person with a maximum of £50,000 a vehicle for all passengers for whom a fare has been paid. These new provisions are intended primarily to aid in bringing people from the country to the various centres.

“It should be emphasised that in the cities it will be better for everyone and will greatly assist the taffic authorities and police if the public will leave their cars at home and use public transport as far as possible,” the announcement said.

Giving reasons for the introduction of the insurance provisions, the statement said: “The Government has been concerned at the difficulties that may be encountered, particularly in the more distant country districts, in arranging for the conveyance of schoolchildren and adults who may have no means of transport. “All available motor transport will be needed, and many owners of motorvehicles may wish to assist school committees and local authorities, but may hesitate to make their vehicles available because they .have no passenger insurance cover to protect them should they be held liable for any injury suffered by the persons they volunteer to carry,” said the announcement.

FIREWORKS DISPLAY AT AUCKLAND “ERUPTION” OF MOUNT EDEN (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, December 15. A full eruption of Mount Eden will be simulated on the first night of the Royal visit, on Wednesday, December 23, as part of the Mount Eden borough’s effort to make Auckland’s celebrations memorable. Fireworks experts are planning a lava flow and a Royal cipher rising 35ft above the mountain crest The designers, who are paying half the cost, say it will follow the ambitious lines of fireworks displays in England. More than 300 shells will be fired, while smoke, flame, and noise are seen and heard a mile or two away. A central feature will be a “waterfall” 30ft high and 90ft wide. The finale will be the gradual lighting of the lava flow 200 ft high and 120 ft wide. Full safety measures for the public are being taken.