The House of Lords, which has Long since taught the country to look to It. {for good debates, had a magnificent field "day yesterday on the veteran Lord "Newton's demand for really drastic measures to end the toll of /deaths on the road. Which everyone recognizes and nobody lose a moment's sleep about, As Lord Newton pointed out 120 cases of typhoid at Croydon, perhaps six per cent of them fatal, throws the country into panic, As' many or more are killed {every week in trifle and the news is Gismissed in a quarter of a column fon an inside page, 'On the motorists' side arose the [Duke of Richmond and Gordon and Lord Waleran, making admirable maiden speeches, in which they lized the gramme accidents, showed that only a third were due to motor-id argued that the only remedy was new highways on which everyone might travel faster than ever.
Eventually a Select Committes of the House of Lords was agreed upon to report to the Government, Some tone suggested a Royal Commission; but Lord Newton objected that before it had done its work another 500,000 people would have been killed.
really valuable contribution to the debate was the government's an-pouncement that the behaviour of jeyclists is. being specially examined. with a view to registering all the 6,000,000 of them, subjecting' them to riding tests, imposing penalties for careless riding, (most motorists would maliciously careless") and com-[pelling them to carry rear lights, Menace of the Cyclists What an uproar they will make! 1 is @ constant and not unreasonable complaint of motorists that cyclists pay no tax. Yet it is no exaggeration say that they behave as if the roads belonged to them, glorying in the certainty that if the motorist touches them, however much the fault 1s thelt's, the magistrate will decide against the brutal car-driver.
As for carrying rear lights—if only they would light their head tights motorists would feo) easier. When T iwas young and rode a bicycle, the police were very sharp on an unlighted lamp, Now they seem 10 Ignore it. Nine out of ten cyclists Jcoming away, say, from the big. aeroplane works at' Weybridge and. going home along country roads never fight their amps.
see a report in to-day's paper that a number of men at Detroit, USS.A., deliberately made themselves drunk' and started out to see what would happen when they drove ears it was scientifically decided that "the Javerage drunken driver loses more than 21 per cent. of his all-round Jeficiency." We could have guessed that. On the most exciting part the test the report is silent, But perhaps we shall get some pictures mall, Before leaving the discussions of Parliament 1 would mention that ingstey Wood's unhappy Population Statistics) Bill, has been severely edited, some definition of the ques-Hons that may be asked of proud parents or mourning spouses being included, and considerable restrle-{tion placed on the scope of others not Mr. A. P. Herbert has been inter-]viewed and expresses his full approval. The sub-editor, seizing an opportunity not to be missed, heads the interview, "Mr, Herbert Pleased with the Minister.
But will it get home?
The newspapers have unanimously christened Sir Kingsley Wood's bantling "The Nosey Parker Bill."
That ought to kill it, passed or unpassed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.