OHOPE SIDE-SCHOOL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 85, 12 June 1946, Page 5

OHOPE SIDE-SCHOOL

ESTABLISHMENT NEXT MONDAY OBVIATING TRANSPORT Residents of Ohope Beach will learn with considerable satis- > faction of the decision to establish a side-school in that district as from Monday next. Their relief will be the greater owing to an incident last Monday when under threat of prosecution from the Traffic Inspector for over-loading, the driver of the School Bus last Monday refused to take some fifteen waiting pupils, who as a result have missed their normal schooling. The agitation for the new school unit at Ohope is a question of longstanding. For years it has been realised that the bus serving the beach has been dangerously overloaded, and this feature has been the cause of numerous complaints from residents* The school will commence in a hall, and will be staffed from Whakatane which will exercise extended control.

The question of overloading of vehicles is one which is likely to give rise to considerable consternation. In his talk with the Borough Council Inspector Sharp made it clear that he intended putting the practice down with a firm hand. Unfortunately, owing to the shortage of transport vehicles in this district, the drivers have in the past, from a sense of sheer good-nature and obligement overloaded in an effort to meet the demands of the travelling public. In no instance we feel sure, has it been done with a view to fare-cramming. If any heavy curtailment is rigidly enforced, a popular outcry is inevitable.