MORE CARE NEEDED.

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 40, 22 February 1929, Page 4

MORE CARE NEEDED.

THERE was another narrow escape from a. railway crossing fatality up north this week when a car was struck by a train and smashed. The driver escaped practically unhurt. The accident is attributed to the fact that the driver of the car did not nbtice that the signal was set for the approach of a train. Many accidents are caused in the same way and in such cases the blame must rest entirely upon the motorists concerned. It is laid down that cars shall stop when approaching crossings and althougluL this is perhaps te'o much to expect in all cases, it should certainly be done at crossings where there is much railway traffic. In other cases, if cars were slowed up when approaching level crossings and a good look lout l taken, a great deal of trouble danger would he done away with. VITAL STATISTICS.

UNDOUBTEDLY l|he mostl satip-i factory feature of the urban area vital statistics of New Zealand for 1928, as retarded in the Monthly Abstract of Statistics, is the unprecedently lo w rate of infant mortality recorded!. Hie decline of this rate from 45.12 per 1000 live births to 41.40 in 1928 (a decrease of 3.72 per 1000 births) is indeed a remarkable achievement! and established a new record in this direction. The \chief factors conitrijbuting towards this hightly satisfactory position are 'Hie huge decreases in tlie number of infants dying from diarrhoea and enteritis, congenital debility, etc., and premature birth, particularly the latter. Against this, however, must he set 'the fact that the number of infant deaths from congenital malflormaUon and birth injuries has increased to a considerable extent during 1028, an aspect that is not at all favourable. A ve\y unsatisfactory aspect of the statistics for the urban areas for 1928 is the increase in the number of stillbirths, the rate rising from 25.5 per 1000 births in 1027 to 30.0 per 1000 in 1928.