JUSTICES OF PEACE MEET

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 18955, 4 March 1936, Page 15

JUSTICES OF PEACE MEET

CONFERENCE REMITS DELEGATE APPOINTED A meeting of the Gisborne Justices o. the. Peace Association was held in tin Com-thou.se yesterday afternoon. Mr. A. G. Beere was in the chair.

It was resolved to appoint Mr. A. Lawrence Gee, Timaru, to represent the Gisborne association at the annual conference of the federation to be held in Wellington on March 17. Over 40 remits from kindred associations came up for discussion, and all were, received. The decisions arrived at are to be sent to the delegate for his information. An extract from the Justice of the Peace and Local Government Review. dated January 4 and entitled "Magis trates and Road Casualties," was received from the (Tuder-Secretary of tin Department of Justice, Wellington. Tin Review is a London publication. The article, an appeal to magistrates throughout England to endeavour to reduce the accidents on the roads in 1936, stated :

“The magistrates have it in their power to do so, and this power should be exercised far more freely, and in many instances far more severely, than has been the case in the past. Many people driving motor-cars to-day are a public menace, many others are. a public nuisance. The former ought to he disqualified for life from holding a license, and the latter, by means of disqualification for a period, should hr taught to behave properly on the roads. “The invention of the internal combustion engine has affected the social conditions of humanity more than all the wars of 200 years, and it has affected not only man’s physical well-being hut his mentality. One curious and disconcerting element is an increasing callousness to suffering. We pay the price ol speed now with very little compunction. We read every week of casualties which formerly would have shocked us as mucli as the result of a battle, and we do not move an eyelid. We are indeed a little disposed to congratulate ourselves that the deaths in one week are only 128 whereas in the corresponding week of 1924 they were 167, and we note with a fleeting glance that something under 4COO persons were i'njured. It is noteworthy that since the week ended April 13 last the figure has fatten below 4COO only five times.” The article urges that the only remedy is to take more, drastic measures against motorists showing negligence.