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Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4471, 25 September 1922, Page 3

The Commissionen of Police, in his report just issued (states the Overseas Daily Mail), records the fact that no fewer than 59 members of the Metropolitan Police Force were bitten by dogs during last year, and one finds oneself wondering wlhether the poet who Informed the world that "a policeman’s life is not a happy one” was aware of this regrettable tendency on the part, of the British dbg. Unfortunately statistics of the annual toll Oif. dog bitten policemen in those days are not available for the purposes of comparison. In these circumstances the whole matter is left in the realms of surmise. There is, however, no evidence, so far as I have been able to discover, that policemen are (a) more succulent than they used to be, or (b) more provocative. Nor, again, is there conclusive proof that the British dog is generally more il.l-|cpn-ditibned than in former days. One possible solution of the problem is that the dog, like the rest of us, has more restrictions placed upon his personal liberty, and that—unlike the rest of us .this time —he permits himself the luxury of active resentmen:. This, however, is mere guesswork. Postmen also are frequently bitten by dogs, but we do not know whether they are bitten in greater or lesser number than policemen. If they are bitten in equal proportion, that would appear to dispose of the foregoing theory and suggest that there is something in a uniform that is offensive to dogs. It is a fascinating field for Inquiry and speculation.