“Put Vandals In Stocks”

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30395, 20 March 1964, Page 3

“Put Vandals In Stocks”

(N.Z. Press Association) INVERCARGILL, March 19. Old fashioned stocks and patrols have been suggested as ways of cutting down vandalism in Invercargill.

Vandals cost the city about £lOOO a year in repairing damage in the parks and reserves. Mr W. M. Willis, S.M. has suggested the return of the old fashioned stocks as effective treatment for wanton vandals and some other types of young offenders. "They could be given protection from being pelted with refuse, but if stocks were set up outside each picture theatre and the vandals were

exposed to ridicule for a few hours, they might hesitate to run the risk of it again,” he told the Invercargill branch of the University Association. Mr O. J. Henderson, chairman of the reserves committee has suggested a patrol in Queen’s Park, where a peacock from the aviary was killed recently.

“The time is approaching when the council will have to consider instituting a permanent patrol at night and during school holidays," he said. Deg On Bex

“My idea is that the council should have a motor-scooter patrol officer who could have a dog on a box on the back of the machine. “If the patrol man was equipped with a decent searchlight and a dog, he could soon put a stop to park dgmage.

His presence would act as a deterrent” Vandals are a North Island problem too. For two months, vandals have been breaking bottles, uprooting steel posts, jacking up cars and removing wheels, draining petrol from cars, and stealing batteries from Mr Allen’s garage in the main street of Ngaruawahia. Last Saturday night Mr Allen patrolled the garage with an Alsatian dog until the early hours of Sunday morning, but did not see anybody. The garage is well-lit by street lights until 2 but it is after this time that the damage appears to have been done. The Ngaruawahia police has been notified, but they have not yet caught anyone near the premises.