CHILDREN AND THE CAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20650, 23 August 1930, Page 12 (Supplement)

CHILDREN AND THE CAR.

LONG-DISTANCE JOURNEYS. RELIEF FROM MONOTONY. It is unsafe to generalise, for children's characters vary as much as grown-up people's and there are plenty of children who can appreciate that motoring is still something of a novelty and a privilege, to -whom a motor trip is still a glorious treat. But there are also a great many children, especially qyite small children, who do not really # enjoy the state of enforced inertia which motoring involves, for whom habitual car travel merely stands in the way of other things which they would much prefer to be doing. Small children are endowed with enormous, restless bodily energy which expresses itself in crawling, scrambling, running and racing, and all the boisterousness that needs must be restrained within reasonable limits, provided always that at certain times it has plenty of free outlet. In a car a child may have to keep still for hours, and however good this may be as discipline and training, grown-ups must not forget that long motor rides.may bo just a form of penance to an active child, and take care not to make too great demands on the youngsters' patience and self-control by keeping them stuffed up in a car too long. Ever-changing Scenes. Then there is the child's mind, as restless and energetic as his body, which may also suffer from the enforced inactivity of motoring. A child in a car is rushed through a series of scenes and sights which ho has not time to notice properly or take in, and ho gets a confused blur of impressions, falls asleep, or is merely dazed and stupefied. This is scarcely a state of mind to be encouraged and to an active-minded child, eager to notice things, to explore and inquire, it is productive of as much boredom as inactivity of the body. Even a mechanically minded child to whom motors really mean something gets very little out of being driven!indefinitely. The remedy is simple. It is never to drive children too far, and not to drive all the time. An hour and a-half is quite enough for a child to bo cooped up in a car at a stretch; two hours, except when needs must, should bo the outside

limit. There should be a long halt, at least as long as the outward and homeward journeys, not including meal times, in which children should ramble or play, or fish, or do whatever they most enjoy, to their hearts' desire. All sensiblo families make a practice of this in their week-end outings, and regard the car as a means of indulging all the outdoor tastes which cannot bo gratified at homo. Benefit to Juveniles. In this way the car becomes the child's, especially the town child's, friend and liberator, instead of a prison. He can get to know nearly as much of the outdoor world as his country cousin, and can become a naturalist, a sportsman, or even an artist, acquiring pleasures and interests which will befriend him through life. Even a motor-mad youngster, and there are many of them, will lose nothing by learning to care for other things, and to regard a car as a means to happiness and liberty, rather than an end in itself. Ho will be saved, at any rate, from the bugbear of monotony which, in the early years of life, cramps growing intelligence. When touring for pleasure, with children on board, the same rulo applies, and there will be not only play and exercise to consider, but beautiful spots and quaint houses to visit, and other antiquities of tho countryside. Children can be interested in almost anything that is given them in moderation; it is the overdose that kills. And when a long journey has perforce to be undertaken by car it must not bo forgotten to let the children havo extra time in the days following to stretch their limbs and work off accumulated energy and restlessness, which will only too probably seek an unlawful outlet if not allowed a lawful one.

ULSTER TOURIST TROPHY. The Ulster Tourist Trophy race, one of the greatest races for all types of sports cars, will be run on the Ards circuit at Ulster, near Belfast, Ireland, to-day, and as usual has attracted the world's greatest drivers and some of the finest cjirs of the six leading motor manufacturing countries. This great motor contest, which is organised by the Royal Automobile Club, is conducted on a handicap basis, the handicaps being worked out so that the smallest car stands as good a chance of winning as its bigger rivals." Last year 65 cars competed, and, after a desperate struggle over the 410 miles course of a tricky 13 miles circuit, including 18 bends and three bad turns, victory went to R. Caracciola, this year's winner of the Irish Grand Prix, at an average speed of 72.8 m.p.h. Certain alterations to the rules have been made for this year's race, in which the entries are limited to 70 cars, this being considered the maximum number of cars that can safely bo allowed on the course. Instead of all starting at the same time as in previous Tourist Trophy races in Ulster, the rules this year provide a time allowance as well as a distance handicap. Cars will be despatched in hatches according to their sizes and handicap. Another new rule is that female attendants will be allowed to assist at the pits. It is estimated that at least 500,000 people witnessed the race last j year.