ACT INFRINGED

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 219, 10 May 1932, Page 4

ACT INFRINGED

USE OF DEFENCE RIFLES BY MEMBERS OF FORCES MAGISTRATE'S COMMENT The opinion that the principle of the Arms Act was being infringed by the practice of permitting members of the defenee forces to pivoeure army service rifles without the necessity of registering them in their own names, . was expressed hy Mr. S. L. Paterson, S.M., in the Rotorua Magistrate's .Court yesterday during the hearing of a trespass case. One of the defendants in the action mentioned in evidence that ne had been shooting with a service r'flp which he had procured through the Defenee Department. He held eommissioned rank in the Auckland Mounted Rifles, and stated that members of the defenee forces were encouraged to procure rifles and obtain practice in shooting. The rifle was not xegistered in his own name. After expressing surprise the position disclosed, the '-^•ate made further referenee to the matter in his summing up. "Defenee weapons should nqt be allowed to be taken from one part of the eountry to the other like this," j| said his Worship. "The private individual is compelled to register and notxfy his change; of address, hut apparently a member of the defenee forces can take a rifle from- here to Dunedin without botheriixg ahout notifying the fact. Some regulations - ..... .... .^-^6—