POLICE PLANS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 224, 22 September 1938, Page 5

POLICE PLANS.

STERN MEASURES. i POLITICAL MEETINGS. PREVENTION OF HOOLIGANISM (By Telegraph.—rress Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. Stern measures to deal with organised hooliganism at political meetings, with the possibility of Court prosecutions for offenders, were disclosed to-day by the Commissioner of Police, Mr. D. J. Cumminffs. The Department, lie said, had issued instructions to the police throughout the Dominion. The principal concern of the police must be to preserve order and any organised attempt to prevent a speaker from being heard or persistent noise, booing or counting out would not be tolerated. He hoped there will be no occasion during the whole campaign tc take extreme measuren. Anyone finding an address not to his liking could leave the hall.

The police, of course, added Mr. Ciimmings, would take no notice of occasional interjections or good-humoured banter. If people who attended political meetings refused to comply with requests made to them by the police, then they must take the consequence* of being put out of the meeting and prosecuted in Court.

If people would only be reasonable they would find the police reasonable, but where any attempt was made to break up a meeting or prevent a speaker from being heard, drastic measures would have to be taken. The police appreciated that interjections and goodnatured banter on many occasions helped the speaker, but when this sort of thing was carried too far it was another matter altogether.