INVESTIGATION OF BOOKMAKING

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27670, 28 May 1955, Page 2

INVESTIGATION OF BOOKMAKING

CONSTABLE EMPLOYED AT WORKSHOPS

RAILWAYMEN’S UNIONS PROTEST (New Zealand Press Association) DUNEDIN, May 27. Railway union officials have protested to the Minister of Police (Mr Holland) over the six weeks' employment at the Hillside workshops of a special duties constable investigating bookmaking. The Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants (Hillside) and the Railway Tradesmen’s Association (Hillside), in a joint press statement, claimed that the employment of “secret police” caused unrest and suspicion among workers. The police officer, Constable J. Harris, was employed at the shops as a gas-cutter. In a statement, Messrs G. D. Brown, chairman of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, and G. Hewitson, chairman of the Railway Tradesmen’s Association, said: “We, on behalf of our membership (800), make an emphatic protest against secret police being employed in the Hillside Workshops. Apart from the unrest and suspicion it causes among the workers in the shops, it causes us to view with grave suspicion any immigrant who may be employed in the near future. “This statement is not to be taken as in any way upholding illegal bookmaking. We are awaiting replies sent to our respective union head offices in regard to the matter.” Constable Harris, a Scot, started work at Hillside about six weeks ago, according to workers. Employed as a gas-cutter, he was soon accepted by the men and became friendly with several. He gave no indication that he was a police officer, but told some men he had been a policeman in Scotland.