DEATH IN THE GLASS.

White Ribbon, Volume 33, Issue 386, 18 September 1927, Page 1

DEATH IN THE GLASS.

"Count your blessings:'* is very good ijvice. And in a long drawn out con itict, it is well occasionally to take a ,ook at our advance. What ground save we won? What still remains to be won? In the fight for a Dry Dominion we tve no need to lose heart. The waves »f election may have l>een defeated, I tit the tide of education is bearing us •eudily to our goal. fount our gains. Despite the large Increase of population in the last 30 Uars, there has been no increase ’rs I ’M number of licenses. Thunks to the jviping out of licenses by the No-License electorates aril the Reduction vote, we l ave less licenses for a greatly inI reused population. I Hotels are closed on Sundays and Ifter 6 p.m. We have raised u generalon of young folk who never saw tbs Ipen bar on Sunday or after 6 p.m. And ■licit trading, though common (vide Idses in our Courts for breaches of the ■let) dares not flaunt itself openly in I.** face of the public. I Education has squashed the arguItint used by selfish people, "The liquor Trade can never injure me." 1 view of the peril on our highways, of I** red ruin left by intoxicated motorfits, who dare say "1 am safe’ ? The lern logic of facts is impressing it lon the national consciousness that mere is Death in the Glass. Death not aly to the nuin who imbiiies, but to lany innocent persons whom he mav fret upon the hlsnway. Our Legistive Council has given a good lead in iis matter. Sir Thomas Mackenzie loved that in v»ew of great risk to Mestrians through reckless motor hiving, the laws should be amended to

provide reasonable protection for tne peope. In three years deaths by motor accidents had increased from in 1P23 to l£>u in lb-6. The morning paper in •Auckland in one day, and thut not a Monday either, reported 16 cases before the Court for reckless driving, and 32 for minor offences. It had come to a pretty pass when it was unsafe for children to go to school. The roads belonged as much to the children as to the drivers of motor vehicles. Sir Thomas suggested greater care should b«* exercised in issuing licenses to drivers. Sir Robert Stout seconded this motion. The Leader of the Council. Sir Francis Hell, was very sorry that the mover had suggested only one remedy, viz., greater tare in licensing drivers. He could give a better remedy —"Strike out the Top Line." Needless to say, Sir Francis has been branded as a fanatic and a wowser bv the wet press. Hut those who have watched his rarliamentary career tor many years know that he is tlie last man to merit such epithets. He is a sane and level-headed administrator, and has propounded a sane and sensible remedy for what has become a national menace. At a later session Sir Thomas Mackenzie drew attention to the case of a drunken motorist who ran .amok, and was still permitted to retain his license. It should be made obligatory in such cases for license* to t>e cancelled. We would go furthi r, and say that where a motorist lias had an accident vhiie intoxicated, he should lose his license, and another should not lie Issued to him unless he becomes a total al«tainer. While under the influence of liquor he is a menace to the public if allowed to drive a car.

A White Kihboner sem s the lot.owing account, which shows the great advance in public opinion on the question of drunkenness made in recent years. We commend it to the attention of our leaders: — "Last Monday week I spent some three hours in the Magistrate's Court that 1 could have spent elsewhere. i was much interested in a motor accident ease. There were three charges against the man being intoxicated while in charge of a car, negligent driving, and driving without a license. The case, as stated by the police, was that about 11.1>.', pm. accused drove along by the • Kick of the Government Priming Office, and ran into the rear step of a stationary tram car, pulled away from that, and ran into a standing bus. Both tram car and bus were fully lighted Four or five policemen gave evidence, two tram men. the bus driver, two doctors, and the woman who was in the car with the man. also a man whom the accused and woman had visited during the evening. The man and won.an swore that accused had ‘had no drink,’ hut all the other witnesses, Including accused’s own doc-tor, said he had. Police all said that he was not so drunk that if he had »>een walking they would have taken any notice of him, hut that lie was in such a state of intoxication that he was not in a flt state to drive a car. The Magistrate dismissed the nudd'e charge on the request of the police, but convicted and fined heavily on the two others. In times past, if the police could not prove a man to have be°n really drunk, such a case w’ould have l>een dismissed. Don't you think it is a w'onderful advance that pa •dial indication is being recognised as dangerous to the community T’