The Star. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1926. MOTORISTS AND JURIES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18008, 19 November 1926, Page 6

The Star. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1926. MOTORISTS AND JURIES.

That motorists must exercise a higher standard of care in View of the growth of city traffic was one of the points made by Mr Justice Stringer in the Supreme Court yesterday during the hearing of a charge of negligent driving which involved the death of a man. The point arose in connection with the plea that the accident occurred owing to an error of judgment rather than to carelessness, and this aspect of motoring accidents is important. Everybody knows that narrow escapes from accidents occur daily, and these narrow shaves are due not to carelessness but to something else that is not easily defined. One motorist, for instance, will suddenly slacken speed, and the driver who is coming behind finds himself in a difficulty. He may not be too close, or careless, hut his response, which ought to be automatic, is just a little retarded. The reason may be temperamental or psychological, but there it is, and an accident happens. Then again, driving on an accelerator in city streets (and most cars are driven on the accelerator), involves the possibility of a sudden jump forward owing to a pot-hole or other irregularity of the road surface. We are not making- excuses for careless or dangerous driving, such as speeding over a crossing, or passing traffic at a crossing, but it is just as well to accept the fact that all motoring accidents are not due to carelessness. They may be due in some instances to errors of judgment. Mr Justice Stringer remarked that motorists must not sail 100 close to the wind, and that is the point on which juries will have to exercise the greatest care. Yesterday the jury convicted, and the fact that the judge met the offence with a fine is notable for one or two reasons. In past years, when manslaughter was commonly regarded as a near relative of murder, the police had the utmost difficulty in securing convictions even where negligence was clear enough, and the Legislature had to meet the case by creating a new offence in which a conviction would not carry the stigma of manslaughter. Juries find it much easier to say that a motorist has driven a car negligently than to say baldly that he is guilty of manslaughter, and hence it is quite likely that an increased number of convictions will have a deterrent effect in the case of motorists who might be inclined to sail too close to the wind. Where the margin of carelessness over a mere error of judgment is not wide, the imposition of a fine will certainly reassure juries that might be disinclined otherwise to convict. Undoubtedly, there are many motorists who are not only careless hut also contemptuous of the safety of others, and it is only right that where any degree of carelessness is proved a suitable punishment should follow.

The point has been made in connection with the Imperial Conference that if Australia wants protection from the East she should contribute substantially towards the cost of the Singapore base. Of course, Australia realises that she must conti'ibute, and so does New Zealand, but the question is one of amount. A high authority declared the other day that the centre of power had been shifted to the Pacific. Just as Britain’s safety used to depend on her strength in the North Sea, so her future safety may depend on her strength in the Pacific. It is for that reason that Singapore is so important to-dav, and it would be a mistake to suppose for one moment that Australia and New Zealand alone are concerned. The Thirteen-Power Pact was founded at Washington on the assumption that China would be able to restore orderly government within her vast boundaries. The situation, however, remains unsettled and obscure, and while it remains so the peace of the Pacific is threatened. The United States is the only country in the world which enjoys the full confidence of the Chinese Government, and, since the war, so far as the profound unrest of the East has permitted, she has taken advantage of the fact to consolidate her economic advantages. Some day, Japan is expected to dispute that position. Other nations are looking on with envious eyes, ready to act when opportunity offers. Britain does not propose to look on with folded arms. That is why Singapore has been the pivot of discussions on the subject of Empire defence at the Imperial Conference. If the British Empire is to play an adequate part in the drama that is slowly 1 but surely unfolding in the Pacific, she must have a fully-equipped base at Singapore. To depend on her present inadequate naval establishments in the Pacific would be madness.