POWER TO ARREST

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 49, 26 August 1938, Page 11

POWER TO ARREST

TRAFFIC INSPECTORS

MOTORISTS NOT IN FAVOUR

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

HAWERA, This Day*

Objection to proposed legislation t6 give traffic inspectors the power to arrest drunken motorists was expressed at the annual conference of the North Island Motor Union at Hawera today. Opinion was divided. The majority held that such legislation would be an encroachment on the liberty of the motoring public, while others contended that motorists had^ nothing to fear. ;; . Mr. R. W. Roydhouse (Wairarapa},,; moving that the power of arrest by, traffic inspectors ba rejected, said th» regulations provided the Inspectors, with power to stop any driver in?J capable of driving and also to remove the vehicle from the road. The power of arrest, therefore, was not necessary. Mr. W. O. Williams (South Taranaki) suggested that the police were quite capable of handling the situation. Mr. E. Palliser (Wellington) said that inspectors had no power to remove an offender from a car and in the case of an intoxicated driver the inspector would have to go away and call a policeman and in the meantime the man could drive off and possibly kill someone. The saving of life was worth more to motorists than a few wrongful arrests. Mr. F. Amoore (New Plymouth) and Mr. E. A. Batt (Wellington) considered that inspectors should have the necessary authority in order to force drunken drivers off the road. Inspectors did not have the necessary training, said Mr. G. W. Hutchinson (Auckland). He thought the police could best handle the situation. • This view was supported by Mr. A« E. Renouf (Hawke's Bay). The union did not want to protect drunken motorists, but to protect members from the indignity to which they might be subjected, said Mr. A. S. Burgess (Wanganui). Dr. S. A. Gibbs (South Island Motor Union) said his union had come to the decision that in the interests of motorists themselves power to arrest should be given to inspectors, especially in. country districts. Special training, however, was necessary. On being put to the vote there was a substantial majority .against the proposal.. ~ .: ■.-