CRIMES IN COUNTRY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 132, 6 June 1944, Page 6

CRIMES IN COUNTRY

STRONG ACTION DEMANDED (P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH, Monday. "The Farmers' Union has repeatedly strongly protested against the practice of magistrates and other authorities sending undesirables into the country, where there is neither police protection nor facilities to summon assistance," said the president, Mr. A. M. Carpenter, at the provincial conference of the North Canterbury District Farmers' Union. "From time to time we hear of brutal assaults, and recently a climax has been reached with a murder which has sent a wave of fear and apprehension through those country districts where women are so much alone."

Such a serious state of affairs, said the president, demanded some immediate action, and representations should be made to the highest authority so that women in the country should have the protection of the law.

The conference later expressed sympathy with the relatives of the victims of recent crimes by juveniles, and the Government was urged to take strong and immediate action to stop what was referred to as "this increasingly pernicious practice of sending juvenile and other undesirables of dangerous tendencies into country districts."