SCHOOL BUSES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20762, 24 June 1937, Page 11

SCHOOL BUSES

MUST BE 100 PER CENT. EFFICIENT By Telegraph— Press Association CHRISTCHURCH, June 23. An assurance that everything possible is being done by the Minister of Education, in co-operation with the Transport Department to ensure that buses used for the conveyance of children to the schools, were one hundred per cent, efficient, was given by the Minister of Transport, Hon. R. Semple, this 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 No. 3 District, regarding the appalling condition of many of the school buses. The trouble was due to the fact that the previous Government had exempted buses carrying children to schools from the provisions for inspection under the Transport Licensing Act, but the amendment to tire 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. The condition of the buses has been revealed as a result of the inspections carried out since last December, and it is only natural to suppose that when they were exempted from inspection that this state of affairs existed."

Mr Semple said he had no doubt 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 fears in future.