Adult Supervision Would Save Lives

Te Ao Hou, March 1965, Page 43

Adult Supervision Would Save Lives This is a tragic story indeed. Over the past two months, four out of five people who were drowned in this country were aged under ten, and in most cases their deaths could have been prevented. By far the safest method of avoiding tragedies like these is to keep young children away from water. This of course is not always possible, but in most cases adult supervision could have saved the child's life. One vivid example of the great risks to which young families are liable is that of a Maori girl, aged 18 months, who was discovered drowned in a fish pond in the front lawn of her home. The girl's parents were inside the house at the time of this tragedy, when they heard a child outside asking about ‘the doll in the fish pond’. A four-year-old boy died through falling from a tree into the river, and an eight-year-old girl drowned when she slipped from a log on which she was trying to cross a stream. In another drowning accident, a Maori boy

aged 6 got into difficulties while playing in a canal. His sister, two years older, went to his aid. Not only were her attempts to save the boy unsuccessful, but she herself was not seen again.