UNLAWFUL MEETINGS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2958, 22 December 1916, Page 8

POWERS OF THE POLICE

NEW WAR REGULATIONS

Important War Regulations are gazetted which refer to the holding of' meetings having reference to the war. The text of the regulations runs as follows: — , If the Commissioner of Police is satisfied that any plage is about to be used or is lik"Ji to be used for tho holding of any, njeeting or meetings having reference \q the war; and of a kind injurious to the public safety or the interests of His Majesty in respect of the war, the Commissioner may by notice prohibit the use of that place for meetings having reference to the war.

So long as any such notice remains in force with respect to any place, every meeting held in that place and having reference to tho war shall, unlessjield in pursuance of a written permit issued bx. the Commissioner of Police, be an unlawful meeting within the meaning and for the purposes of those regulations.

Every person who permits an unlawful meeting to be held in or upon any premises or land owned or occupied by him shall be guilty of an offence against those regulations, and shall bo liable accordingly.

Every person, other than a constable or a person acting in aid of the police, who is present at an unlawful meeting, or who is a party to the holding of any such meeting, shall bo guilty of an offence against these regulations, and shall bo liable accordingly. _ So long as any such notice remains in force with respect to any place, a constable may at all times 'by day or night, when lie has reason to believe that any meeting is being or is about to ho held in that place, enter upon that place and upon every part thereof, and any ono who obstructs a.constable m the exercise of this riulit of entry shall be zriMs-ot an offence against those roiiihtiojis, and sjiall bo liable accordingly. Everv such notice shall be given either by publishing tho same in some newspaper circulating in the neighbourhood of the pla.ee te which the notice relates, or by publicly exhibiting the same at that place. Every person who without lawful .authority removes or otherwise interferes with any notico so exhibited at anv time while it remans in forco shall bo guilty of an offence anainst these regulations, and sIHI be liable 'fwordinryiy. It shall he sufficient if any such notice issued in respect of anv place sets forth that meotimrs hnvinn- roforenop to tho war nvo prohibite,! j„ that place hp'V the W.ir RnmilatiniK:

Every such notice sna u ron , a ; n ,•„ force until rooked by tho Commissioner of Pol ion by a notico publisliod new«rmnf»- circulating in the neighbourhood of the place to'which it rentes.

Tn those 'regulations, "meeting" means anv. assembly at which nioro thmi twelve persons are present: ' "'ilaco" -nioans a building, or a -nnrt of a lini'Minir, or a pnMic'Vlnre tvU.l'i'ii tho moanin.fr nf Part II of the Police Offences Act. ISHR or a piece of land owned or occupied hv any person.