BOROUGH BY-LAWS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 17 June 1925, Page 4

BOROUGH BY-LAWS.

The Borough Council has taken the right course in deciding to draw the attention of the police to the by-law requiring that there shall be efficient silencers on motor cycles used in the borough. It is certainly time that somebody moved in the matter. Noises more hideous that that of an old Gatling gun penetrate the ear day and night from .these non-silencer motor cycles, and we hope that the police will tighten up their operations in. regard to this nuisance in a manner which will have a salutary, effect. There is another matter which the police should have power to prosecute offenders for. There is a by-law against cutting corners, a silent policeman having been placed at certain street intersections in Masterton as a reminder that it is against the law not to ‘ keep to the left ” when turning a corner. At present the law, apparently applies only to motor cars and motor cycles. If it is a proper bv-law to apply to motor vehicles it is also a reasonable one as far as bicycles are concerned. Many scores o* cyclists in Masterton at the present time keep to the left going round the silent policeman, but there are some who do not and they should be brought into line. It is also to be hoped that the Council will alter the by-law regarding the carrying by all cvclist.9 of a red reflector on the back of their machines. The by-law should be made to apply only to those riding at night time. While it is a, fact that many of our roads are not in the state they should be, that is no reason why cyclists should use the footpath, especially at night time. School children are among the chief transgressors during the day time and the piosecution of some of the worst offenders would doubtless prove a warning to other children. On the outskirts of the town the police could reap a rich harvest, both day and night, as the result of cyclists riding on the footpaths. Of course, many people argue that the Council should provide good roads, and then there would be no necessity for cyclists to ride on the footpath, but the Borough Council is doing the best it can, with theTlimited financial resources at its disposal, to put the roads in a deeent state <sf repair. If, during the next two .years,the present Council carry out the policy.of their immediate predecessors, thenfby 1927, Masterton should have roadways comparable with the best in any borough of a similar size, and thus Temove the excuse for cyclists using the pathways.