HOLIDAY VANDALS WARNED

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 150, 22 December 1945, Page 6

HOLIDAY VANDALS WARNED

PATROLS FOR HOUSING JOBS

"Some few days ago I made a statement regarding the damage suffered on State housing projects as a result of vandalism and theft that has become so common," stated the Minister, of Works (Mr. Semple) today. "In an endeavour to minimise the loss occasioned in this manner on State housing contracts in Wellington and the Hutt Valley, particularly over the holiday period, the builders concerned, in co-operation with the Housing Construction Division of the Public Works Department, have arranged for these jobs to be adequately patrolled."

Mr. Semple said that even a patrol might not afford complete protection, and in cases where protection was not at hand, but it was clear that a theft or mischief was being committed, it behoved citizens to protect their own property. It was well known that a lot of the damage suffered was the work of irresponsibles and uncontrolled youngsters. "Let none of us, therefore, wink at the mischievous pranks of our youth as they affect material things, but stop and admonish them, so that they can grow into adolescence with a proper respect for the property rights of other people," said Mr. Semple. "It may not be generally known that the Crimes Act and the Justices of the Peace Act give the requisite powers to civilians to apprehend any person

found in the act of committing a theft or a mischief. The patrol that has been appointed has been carefully instructed in its duties, and it is hoped that knowledge of its existence will act as a deterrent to would-be pilferers and mischief-makers, thereby preventing the continuation of the losses sustained in this manner in the past. "I do not want this warning to certain people to act as a deterrent to those others who wish to see what has been achieved by the Housing Construction Division during the nine years of its existence. In fact, I think that those people who have the opportunity can spend a very profitable afternoon in going around the various State housing blocks in Wellington and the Hutt Valley."