Unmarked road hazard

Mr and Mrs Walter Taine have returned to Dunedin from a motor trip through both islands, the pleasure of which was interfered with by only one untoward incident.

It was an incident of a kind that should not be possible. Mr and Mrs Taine were on their way from Blenheim to Kaikoura after darkness had set in on the evening of the King’s Birthday, and were following the main road, as the guidebook indicated they should do, when their car suddenly dropped into Middle Creek in 10 feet of water. The Middle Creek bridge was extensively damaged by floods in 1923 and has never been restored. As the road has not been fenced off at the point at which the bridge stood, it constitutes an exceedingly dangerous trap under existing conditions. Motorists familiar with the district are aware that in order to avoid this trap a deviation is necessary, but visitors to the district following the information afforded in the guidebook, are liable to all the risks of serious accident, and, as we are informed, the local authority has taken no steps to protect them. In this instance, it was with difficulty that Mrs Taine was extricated from the car.

Neither sails nor funnels

As far as its exterior appearance goes, it seems likely that the more powerful motor ship will eventually grow into a featureless liner of, say, 20,000 tons, with neither sails nor masts nor funnels, able to do its 15 knots year in and year out. It will be no safer and no surer than the steamship has been, but it will cost less to run, and in a day of strenuous competition trade accrues to the shipowner who can cut down his running costs.

Plunket thanks Emily Siedeberg

A very pleasant function took place when Dr Siedeberg was presented with a gold-mounted fountain pen in recognition of her 12 years’ work as treasurer of the Society for the Protection of Women and Children. Lady Sim, in making the presentation, referred to the pioneer work that Dr Siedeberg  had done for medical women. She had stuck to her guns against all opposition and had led the way for other women to follow. Lady Sim also referred to the great interest Dr Siedeberg had always taken on all social questions affecting the welfare of women.  Dr Siedeberg suitably reacted, thanking the committee for its gift.

Law and publicity

In declining to order the suppression of the names of four young men charged at Auckland with theft from warehouses and with receiving stolen goods, Mr Poynton SM spoke somewhat plainly on a subject upon which plain-speaking is desirable. There has been evidence of a growing tendency to endeavour to secure for wrong-doers the protection of the courts by the suppression of their names. It is obvious that if the publication of names were abolished altogether a valuable deterrent, as well as a safeguard for the public, would disappear. There have been instances in which the discretionary powers of the Bench have been exercised for no satisfactory or convincing reason. There are cases in which the non-publication of the names of persons charged before a magistrate may be a fair and proper thing — for instance, as those in which the persons concerned are actually first offenders who have taken a first wrong step in circumstances offering perhaps some extenuation. The argument, also, for the suppression of offenders’ names on humanitarian grounds is a sound one. But it must not be carried too far.

— editorial

— ODT, 16.6.1925 (Compiled by Peter Dowden)