EXCESSIVE AND OVERDUE

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 224, 21 September 1928, Page 8

EXCESSIVE AND OVERDUE

MOTORING PROSECUTIONS. STRONG CRITICISM MADE. STORY ABOUT A MAGISTRATE.

In view of the statement of Mr. W. B. Mcllveney, Commissioner of Police, that police control of traffic is preferable to administration by local bodies, the following article from the May issue of the "Auckland Chamber of Commerce Journal" is of interest:— "The issue of the new regulations closely synchronised with adverse comment from the Supreme Court Bench at Gisborne upon the excessive and undue zeal manifested by the police in bringing prosecutions against motorists. " It is to be hoped that the hint given will be acted on by the police in the administration of the new regulations. There have been far too many prosecutions of motorists for 'technical' offences—violations of the letter but not the spirit of. the law. On the evening of the very day on which a well-known Auckland professional man had been fined on police information for not inclining to the left—aad not making the dangerous corkscrew twist (to the left of the 'centre' pole, which is not really a centre pole at all) needed to keep him as near as practicable to the left hand side of the road—in turning up into or across Symonds Street from Wellesley Street, he observed no less an individual than the fining magistrate in his car passing to the right of the pole! The purpose of the by-law is presumably to minimise accidents; but in this particular case strict observance of the letter of the'Tjylaw is more dangerous than the alternative course. "Prosecutions in such instances (and cases could be multiplied) serve no useful purpose and yet impose a considerable burden on the police department and the public. But this is by no means their most serious result. In the opinion of many competent to form a sound judgment in such matters they bring the whole administration of law (we do not say 'justice') into disrepute, ridicule and contempt; and, by fostering a lack of susceptibility in the community to the stigma of being convicted of an offence, are probably one of the main causes of the well-recognised fact that "ew Zealanders of to-day, though still comparing favourably in this Tespect with the citizens of most other countries are yet not the law-abiding or respecting people they were 14 or 15 vears ago."