DRUNKEN MOTORISTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 November 1938, Page 2

DRUNKEN MOTORISTS

WEEKEND GAOL SENTENCES. NEW ZEALAND TO ADOPT U.S.A. SYSTEM. (By Telegraph-Press Association.) AUCKLAND, November 13. New Zealand is to adopt the American method of punishing intoxicated motorists with jail sentences served at weekends, according to an announcement made by the Minister of Transport, Mr Semple, on Saturday. Mr Semple said he had come to this decision with the consent of his colleagues in Parliament. An intoxicated man who got into a high-powered car turned it into an infernal machine and became a potential murderer himself. He had to be got rid of, said Mr Semple. Unfortunately this sort of thing was on the increase, in 1936 there had been 287 convictions against drivers drunk in charge of motor-vehicles, Hut in 1937 the convictions totalled 573. The offence had to stop, and it would be done within the next three years if the force of law could stop it, he added. Originally the magistrates had imposed fines, but when such action did not appear to be meeting the case terms of imprisonment were imposed. Ordinary imprisonment, however, meant that the offender lost his pay and possibly his position, which imposed hardship on his wife and children. He had decided therefore, with the consent of his colleagues in Parliament, to deal with the drunken motorist in another way and intended to copy the American system under which the offender was put in the “cooler” at weekends. Under such a system the sins of the father would not be visited on his wife and children, who were not entitled to be punished for his wrong-doing. On the other hand the offender would be given the opportunity for meditation and reflection on. his position, “and on Monday morning,” Mr Semple added with a smile, “he will have to put on his running shoes to get home for some breakfast before he leaves for wol*k.” In his efforts to rid the Dominion of the drunken driver, Mr Semple said, he felt sure he had the co-opera-tion and goodwill of 98 per cent of the people in the Dominion.