AN OPEN VERDICT

Evening Post, Volume C, Issue 90, 13 October 1920, Page 3

AN OPEN VERDICT

FATAL MOTOR COLLISION

(B1 TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.)

GISBORNE, 12th October

The inquest concerning the death of BertTe Athol Rhodes, a returned soldier, from injuries'caused by a motor collision, was concluded to-da.y." The Coroner (Mr. Barton) said that he had visited the scene of the accident and found, according to the evidence and marks on the roadway, that the speed of the car could „not be less than twenty-five miles an hour. This was not a safe' speed, and the car was not being driven as it should have been. Hg returned the following verdict: "That Bertie Athol Rhodes died in th.«. Gisbome Hospital on 26th Septembei as the result of- a collision between a motor-cycle driven by him and a motor-car driven by Mary Alice Leslie." That was his verdict, and he would take the responsibility of saying that the girl should not be further connected with the case. It was an anomaly that while, engineers werp required to show qualification for running stationary engines, a, child of 14 years was allowed to drive round the streets in a car of 40 horsepower. The driver of the car had not shown the discretion due from one controlling a motor-car, but when the driver was a girl of 14 years it was not reasonable to expect much discretion. His Worship took the full responsibility for making the verdict an open one, but he wished to add the following rider: — "In :my opinion it is urgently necessary that the Gisborne Borough Council should legislate (1) To provide a system of licensing drivers of motor-cars, licenses to be issued only to adult persons, each of whom proves to the satisfaction of the council his or her ability to handle and drive a motor-car in borough traffic; (2) to prohibit under a penalty the driving of a car by a person other than a licensed driver within the borough."