DRUNKEN DRIVERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 137, 7 December 1938, Page 22

DRUNKEN DRIVERS

WEEKEND GAOL PLAN

MINISTER RESENTS REMARKS

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

CHRISTCHURCH, December 6.

Resentment at any suggestion that he had retreated from his responsibility in dealing with the safety of the roads and' the punishment of drunken drivers, was forcibly expressed by the Minister of Transport (the Hon. R. Semple) in a statement tonight.

The Minister's proposal to imprison drunken drivers for weekends was considered by Mr. R. P. Furness (Marlborough) at the quarterly meeting of the South Island Motor Union in Greymouth on Monday to be "a bit of a retreat by the Minister from his expressed intention of driving the drunken motorist off the roads." He added that the gaols might not be large enough to hold all who would have to accept the State's hospitality.

Assuring Mr. Furness of the resentment he felt, Mr. Semple said he thought it would be agreed from one end of the Dominion to the other that he had never let up on the difficult task of dealing with the intoxicated motorist. The problem of preventing the wholesale and needless loss of life on the highways and byways was vexing some of the greatest thinkers of the world. He had done everything humanly possible with the money at his disposal to improve the roading system of the country as the first step towards safety. He had also not spared any effort to bring home to the people the magnitude of the needless crimes committed before their eyes every day, and he could say with a certain degree of pride that he had improved the position considerably. "Members of automobile associations should be the first to appreciate the work that has been done, instead of some of them throwing out cheap and offensive suggestions about my retreating from my responsibilities," said Mr. Semple. "I know what the great majority of the public of New Zealand think Fair-minded people fully appreciate all that has been done, and as long as I can convince them by actual deeds, not words, I will rest contented. I am not suggesting that more cannot be done. A tremendous amount more cJn be done, but helpful suggestions instead of cheap sneers would be more welcome. If a thought has any merit it will be considered."