A DANGEROUS SPOT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 72, 8 November 1911, Page 4

A DANGEROUS SPOT.

i'lie rider added to the verdict of the jury which inquired into the circumstances surrounding the death by drowning of the little girl in Victoria Dark, does not suggest itself to us •vs being likely to help prevent simi'ir disasters in the future. To tell i mother that she must not allow her children to wander away from home is asking her to undertake a task that parents in all ages have failed to perform. .Mothers do not willingly allow their little ones to stray out of sight, but most children—even of tender years—are very wilful, and while their

parent is happy in the thought that they are playing next door, they start out to make a round of visits on their own account, and more than likely the first pool or sheet of water encountered will claim their attention, this was the case on Monday. Two little girls wandered away from home and reached Victoria Park—some distance from the starting point—and one waded into the lake to her death, the other not being old enough to render assistance or raise an alarm. It is really a marvel that the park has been so free from such fatalities, but we believe this can be ascribed to the fact that parents living anywhere near 'the locality keep a vigilant eye upon the doings of their little ones. We have hoard mothers say that the lake ii! Hie park was the terror of their lives, and if their offspring manag'd to get out of sight for a few minutes

they are in fear until assured that ilia little ones were all right. To warn parents is altogether beside the question, and to warn children of tender years not to go near water is

equally futile. Tlte only remedy, to our minds, is to run a fence round the sheet of water in the park, or drain it off. When it is realised that the park is extensively used hy parents

and children on summer afternoons, it is only natural that the little ones should make their way to the same place by themselves the first opportunity that presents itself, and without a caretaker on the grounds the sheet of water under notice is a source of danger that calls for special attention at the hands of those who have charge of it.