"AS RARE AS MOAS"

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 124, 11 June 1937, Page 4

"AS RARE AS MOAS"

Frais A««ocl»tion.)

Mr. Semple's Aim with Drunk Motorist*

(Bf Tflecraot

OHR1STCHURCH, Last Night. "In 12 montfis he wjll be as rare as the moa," said the. Minister of Transport, the Hon. R. Semple, referring to the intoxicated driver in an address to a meeting of local bodies. "He has got to go, not for eix montbs, when. fie is caugfit, but for tfie term of fiis natural life. He can £|et drunk if he wants to so long as fie goes to bed or crawls up a gaspipe, but he is not going to killpeople on the road." The Minister said that fie was optimistic enougfi to believe that 90 per cent. of the aecidents on New Zealand roads could be prevented by more elfective control. He said that some persons were acquiring driving licences without tests or without proper tests. "Don't tell me that is not true," fie said when there were sounds of dissent. "I know it is true. I don't ta-lk without having the facts. "My own view is that the fellow intoxicated in charge of a car is a bigg|er menace than the man with a revolver or a razor," said Mr Semple. "In the last seven years that type of man ha3 killed 275 innocent New Zealand people. Because some individufil in the shape of a man poisoned himself with booze and murdered them we are not going to allow ,it to go on."