SCHOOL BUSES MUST BE EFFICIENT

Northern Advocate, 24 June 1937, Page 3

SCHOOL BUSES MUST BE EFFICIENT

Minister’s Assurance To Mothers [Per Press Association. Copyright.! CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. An assurance that everything possible was being done by the Minister of Education, the Hon. P. Fraser, in co-operation with the Transport Department to ensure that buses used for the conveyance of children to schools were 100 per cent, efficient, was given by the Minister of Transport, the Hon. R. Semple, yesterday morning. The Minister concurred fully with the statements made at a recent meeting of the Canterbury School Committees’ Association by Mr T. H. Langford, Transport Licensing Authority for the No. 3 district, regarding the appalling conditions of many of the school buses. How Trouble Arose. The trouble was due to the fact that the previous Government had exempted buses carrying children to school from the provisions for inspection under the Transport Licensing Act, but an amendment to the Act passed last year brought these vehicles within its scope. “It was a criminal and cruel thing to exempt buses carrying children from the provisions of the law,” said Mr Semple. “And I dealt with it as soon as it was possible for me to do so. No Need to Fear.

“The condition of the buses has been revealed as a result of inspections carried out since last December, and it is only natural to supjftse, when they were exempted from inspection, that tAis state of affairs existed.” Mr Semple said he had no doubt that, when. Mr Langford made public the state of affairs that existed, mothers, in particular, were terrified for the safety of their children, but he wanted to give them an assurance that they need have no fear in future.