DAMAGED BY RIFLE BULLETS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 169, 21 July 1941, Page 4

DAMAGED BY RIFLE BULLETS

AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION SIGN VANDALISM ON ST. JOHN’S HILL Placed al the intersection of Virginia Road and the Main Highway, St. John’s Hill, a circular “30 miles an hour” Automobile Association sign lies been fired at with a .22 rifle and damaged by a dozen The person using the rifle evidently came closer each time till the bullets pierced the enamel and steel. These signs, which cost the Auto- ; mobile Association (Wanganui) about • £1 each to place in position, are made ■ of steel faced with enamel. Tests car- ! ried. out on an old sign by officers of ■ the association show that at 20 yards , a pea-rifle bullet will not pierce the | disc; at 15 yards a pea-rifle bullet i will cause indentation, and at ten ’ yards will pierce the metal. i The president of the Automobile; Association, Mr. P. D. England, said that apart from the damage to the sign the person responsible had cans-

ed danger to people in the area, as bullets could ricochet off the steel sign. He said the association was trying to help the public and motorists in effectively signposting roads. Unfortunately, the nature of damage to signs in various areas indicatI ert that children were not always I responsible. Heavy signs had been pulled up and broken. Some months lago in Marftn the police discovered I a person who had been systematicI ally damaging signs. There had also I been damage in Waverley district- [ Most of the signs damaged were made [ of wood.