"THIS CRIMINAL BLOT"

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 12, 29 January 1937, Page 5

"THIS CRIMINAL BLOT"

— Press Asaociation.)

Mr Semple's Aim to Stop All Road Tragedies

(By Telegraph-

WANGANUI, Last Night. Speaking as Minister of Transport, the Hon. R. .Semple, during his visit ta Wanganui to-night, said that to d*te road fatalities had been reduced by 60 per cent, compared with 350 killings a year when he took over control. "I'm going further and further tiH I stop all these tragedies," he said. "Ninety per cent of those lives could have been saved. I'm seeking the cooperation of every organisation in this country without apology to stamp out thig crimiiial blot oh the transport history of the Dominion. / "Let me say this to the man who takes an overdose of alcohol, gets in a car, makes it an infernal machine, and makes himself a potentiai murderer," he continued. "He's not going to challenge the lives of innocent people, i'm going to pursue this class of motorist till he's as extinct as the moa." Th© other type of motorist he was after was the person who knocked down a fellow-citizen and left him on the roadside to bleed to death. "He's a coward and a murderer combined. I'm after hdm, but I can't succeed unless a get the complete co-operation of every citizen in this country," the Minister concluded.