THE PRESS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1983. Guy Fawkes the terrorist

Press, 4 November 1983, Page 12

THE PRESS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1983. Guy Fawkes the terrorist

Each year as November 5 approaches, the failure of an attempt to blow up the English Parliament in 1605 becomes an excuse for a riot of flashes and bangs. Many people derive a good deal of fun from the fireworks associated with Guy Fawkes Day. Many more become thoroughly fed up with the disturbances that begin days before, and with the unnecessary fires on November 5. Throughout the country, a number of people, most of them younger children, are injured by fireworks each year. In 1974 Parliament placed a ban on the sale of fireworks except for 10 days before November 5. Danger and inconvenience have been eliminated for most of the year, but in the noisy week before November 5 the community might well ask whether fireworks are necessary at all.

A Parliamentary committee in 1975 recommended a complete ban on fireworks, except for supervised public displays. An end to the back-yard fireworks of November 5 would be a loss though a small loss. An end to unregulated hooliganism on the streets would be no loss at all. If groups were prepared to organise public displays, the results would be much more spectacular than any private showing, and the danger much less. Half a world away from England, in a country that tries hard these days to assert its own traditions, the remembrance of an obscure

religious attempt at terrorism nearly 400 years ago is a poor excuse for potentially dangerous celebrations. The fact is, of course, that the connection between the custom and its origin is virtually non-existent in the minds of those who set off fireworks.

Probably no-one letting off fireworks on November 5 knows or cares what Guy Fawkes, or those who frustrated his attempt at mass murder, were arguing about. If there must be fireworks in New Zealand a better occasion for celebration — and safer displays — could surely be arranged. If reckless and stupid behaviour persists a total ban on fireworks would take a little fun out of life, but city streets would be much safer and more pleasant in early November each year. The partial ban probably does no more than ensure an outburst of fireworks when sales are allowed. Any notion that a law could effectively stop everyone from making and using what should be harmless explosive devices is a misleading ideal. Fireworks are never entirely harmless; and the complete application of such a law is too much to hope for. Nevertheless, an attempt to rid the community of an expensive and often dangerous nuisance is increasingly shown to be justified. Providing properly managed fireworks displays would be a worth-while and economical alternative in many communities.