The Daily News. MONDAY, MARCH 17, 1913. PROTECTION OF THE TRAVELLING PUBLIC.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 254, 17 March 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, MARCH 17, 1913. PROTECTION OF THE TRAVELLING PUBLIC.

The rider which the jury in the unfortunate motor-cur iatality inquest brought ill on (Saturday i> one which, we believe, will iiml general endorsement. Jn so important ;i mutter a.s the protection of human lite every reasonable safeguard should be insisted upon. That it is not so safeguarded in the case of motor-cars the Dominion lias afforded ample evidence during the past year or two. We do not wish at this stage to comment upon the cause- of Thursday's accident, because, in a manner, it is sub judice, but we may be permitted to express the opinion that the jury in this case were perfectly juslilied in recommending that motor-car drivers should be subject to regulations :u to their ellicicncy, and suggesting that the municipal authorities should flame by-laws accordingly. Such a provision would prove just as desirable to motor-car owners as to the public. •At present an owner has no means of ascertaining il a driver is elliciens except by trying him. Testimonials, as we all know, are never a sure indication of a person's litness or ability in this or any other class of work. lie has to be proved. This proving process may cause no great amount of damage or inconvenience in mo-t occupations, but it is an entirely different matter when it conie> to endangering the life of the tiavelling public, as is the case in the driving of motor-cars. The risk should not be incurred, and it; would not be if the provision suggested bv the jury in the case in question prevailed. But this is not sutlicicnl. The safety of the public demands that the mechanism of

motor-cars for hire should also be subject to inspection. We have inspectors of boilers and machinery; inspectors of tha railway rolling stock; inspectors to ensure that the lives or limbs of workmen are not endangered; inspectors, in short, we have to protect the public in everything pertaining to the safety oi life, health and food. Yet with the motor-car, that has jumped, as it were, with a bound into the forefront of locomotive popularity, no measures at all lure taken for the safeguarding of life, j In no other form of locomotion are the risks so ever present ami so great. The ears travel generally at such a speed that should anything go wrong with the mechanism it is "all up," as the saying goes, with the occupants. They can do nothing to save themselves; they arc helpless; they take the chance of being injured or killed. Whilst the motor-car of to-day is a wonderfully efficient piece of machinery, accidents due to defects in their machinery are not infrequent and it must he said that, considering everything, it is wonderful that there are not more accidents than is the ease, particularly when one bears in mind the recklessness and disregard of others' safety that characterise so many drivers. The owner of a private car generally takes sufficient interest in his machine to see, before he starts on a trip, that every part is in good order ami properly adjusted. This may be the case, too, with most of the owners of hire cars, but the matter is of such vital importance to the travelling public that it should not be left entirely to the owner's judgment or inclination. The machines should be subject to inspection at any time by a public official, just as are the boilers of engines and other less important things: This, however, is a matter for the Government; the question of the efficiency of a driver is one for the local authorities, who should follow the example of other places and bring the regulation into force.

MARKETING OUR PRODUCE. It was a pity there was so poor an attendance at the meeting addressed by Mr. W. D. Lysnar, of Gisborne. on Friday night, on the subject of marketing our produce in England. The subject is one of vital interest to all our pro-, ducers. Mr. Lysnar-knows liis subject well, having spent a good deal of time making himself acquainted with the conditions that obtain in London, and expresses hininclf lucidly and convincingly. But the pictures he screens of the actual happenings are more eloquent than any words of his could be. It is amazing t) think that such primitive and unbusinesslike methods should obtain in a city which we have been taught to regard as the progressive hub of the world. The buildings at the docks that store our produce when it is landed would be condemned in this country as unfit for housing human food. But it is the method of conveying the produce from the ships' side to the buildings and thence to the markets that is open to the greatest objection. There is an entire absence of cranes to lift the produce from the insulated chambers to the wharf. There are a few antiquatedlooking cranes on duty that, are only capable of shifting the produce from the deck to the wharf, where it is received in hand-carts, trollies and other unprotected conveyances that one would expect to find in a fifth-rate Chinese or Indian port, but in London, never! The. pictures showed vividly how the meat was knocked about by these methods, and explained the frequency of the complaints regarding the condition and appearance of Xew Zealand meat. ■ The meat is sound and healthy looking when it leaves the ships' holds. All the trouble seems to take place in the handling of the carcases between the ships' sides and the markets. What applies to the handling of meat applies almost equally to the handling of wool I aim dairy produce. There is. judging from these photographs, an entire lack of system ami up-to-date I appliances, and the ciioet can only be prejudicial to the interests of the Xew Zealand producer. The latter does not. and never did, get a fair return for his 'meat, receiving in most cases less than, half of what it realises on the English retail market. The dairyman does better certainly, but still there is a margin • between 5 the London market price of New Zealand and Danish butter, which the difference in quality cannot account, for. The British Trade Commissioners have said they prefer New Zealand to Danish 'butter. We have, heard the same tiling from several recent, visitors to England. If this is so. there should be a difference in the market price in favor of the Xew Zealand article. On the whole, it looks as if the Xew Zealand producer is not getting bis fair "cut." Mr. Lysnar believes that we arc making a mistake in shipping all our produce to London, where the prospect of an improvement in the methods of handling is hopeless, and is endeavoring -to form an association to receive ami market Xew Zealand produce at the other end. with Bristol as the distributing centre. Bristol seams to be as enterprising and up-to-date as London is unenterprising and out-of-date. If the movement will make for an improvement in the conditions and for enhanced prices all round—as it bids fair to do--it should receive, as it will merit, the hearty support of the producers of this country.