POLICE METHODS.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2743, 11 April 1916, Page 6

POLICE METHODS.

Sir,-There is a big feeling of dissrusi among disinterested peopled theTaS by the policeiu obtaining convictions for Sunday trading in hotels. Surely the Minister in charge does not sanction such methods.. This writer, although not qualified at present to go to tSa front, has many relatives wearing the uniform with honour, and it has caused the deepest pam to reafse that in a last reSort m, cau be degraded to such a purnose. There is no law on the statute book where greater powers of enforcement and fewer chances of evasion exist than this law relating to Sunday trading. The'onus is thrown on the de-' fendant in every case to prove a 'lawful presence on a licensee's premises, while in the enforcement of almost every other law the onus is on the prosecution to prove guilt. Surely with all this in their favour th 3 police can enforce the kwagainst Sunday trading without degrading a' uniform thai* most loyal Britishers regard with deep reverence. Is it any wonder that recruiting'lags when' such methods are resorted to by tie' police, to the pain of the many bereaved' ones whose heroes breathed their last bringing credit and honour to what the police regard as only fit for use in obtaining tin-pot convictions against the licensing laws. There have been prosecutions in the past for using the King's uniform in 'circumstances to bring it into contempt, and a large number of people would like to see one in this case. —I am, etc., i E.D.A.