CONTROL OF CITY TRAFFIC

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27148, 18 September 1953, Page 10

CONTROL OF CITY TRAFFIC

i Former Magistrate’s Proposal INSPECTORS TAKE “STRONG < EXCEPTION” (New Zealand. Press Association) .'t- AUCKLAND, September 17. More than 30 of Auckland’s city traffic*officers today adopted a resolution hiking “strong exception” to a proposal by Mr J. H. Luxford, a former Magistrate, that the Government be asked to pass legislation “to force them to join' the Police Force.” This was announced by Mr J. B. Davy, secretary of the officers’ union. Mr Luxford, who is opposing the sit-

Mr Luxford, who is opposing the sit- , ting Mayor (Sir John Allum) for office at the municipal elections, said at Avondale last night that Auckland’s traffic should be handled by a special branch of the Police Department. This policy for Auckland, he said, would follow a pattern that worked well in every Australian State. If elected Mayor'he would ask the Government to set up such a special branch. “I believe my proposal would meet with approval, and the experiment in Auckland, repeated in many parts of New Zealand, would soon become established practice,” Mr Luxford said. Mr Luxford paid a tribute to the city traffic department, saying it had shown skill and enterprise in the placing of signs and other traffic control devices. But he claimed that the control and enforcement of laws affecting the whole community should be in the hands of men .trained in the basic principles and practices of maintaining order. Younger traffic officers could become excellent policemen after training, and there was work for the remainder in the city traffic department, he said.