DRIVING LICENCES

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 10, 11 July 1936, Page 10

DRIVING LICENCES

AGE-LIMIT QUESTION

WRONG IMPRESSION

MR. SEMPLE EXPLAINS

Denying that he had committed hin> self to the statement, that drivers', licences should. not: be issued to. persons under eighteen years of age, the Minister of Transport (the Hon. : .E. Semple), in an interview today, stated that a wrong impression seemed to' have been created, and he wanted ,to correct it. , - He explained that when in Auckland he received a deputation from a drivers' organisation that put several suggestions, to him. One was that they should debar boys under eighteen years of- age from getting motordrivers' licences. The present age limit was sixteen years. "The impression left," "said Mr. Semple, "was that I agreed to the suggestion about eighteen years. I 'did agree with other proposals, which are contained in tha Bill already introduced 'into Parliament, but I did not commit myself to the proposal about boys of eighteen years of age. I said that I would consider the matter. I approved of the other proposals mixed up with this one; I am not prepared to agree to the lifting of the age to eighteen. ■ The question of "a licence should be considered on individual merits. Anybody under eighteen years may be just as competent as he will ever be. You have to use common, sense in a matter like this. It is the same where a person is 65 years or 70 years of age. Some people of this age are capable'of driving a car; others are not. Eyesight, hearing, and that sort of thing have to be taken into consideration; you have to take into account the physical qualifications . and mental alertness of the individual. You'cannot say that a person under eighteen years should not have a licence.1 That would not be a fair thing;

"One can o»ly judge from one's own experience," continued the / Minister. "When I was eighteen years . I was working with teams of men, keeping my end up and doing anything- they could do. There are any number of boys in New Zealand who could do that, but there are others that could not. Their qualifications may not be up to standard, and in that - case they should not get . a licence. The same thing applies to the other end of the age-scale.

"We have to try and make the testa little harder than ' what it is at the moment. I think there is room for that; in fact, lam sure there is. I have known people get a licence- when they never should have had one. Eyesight should be taken into account when a person makes an application for a licence."

The Minister added that they had to get over the difficulty of imposing any hardship on young or old, man or woman.

Pipe-smoking is greatly on the increase in Britain. King Edward and his three brothers, the Dukes of York, Gloucester, and Kent, are all patrons of the pipe. But the most consistent pipe-smoker' is Mr. Baldwin.