WEARING A UNIFORM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20252, 11 May 1929, Page 13

WEARING A UNIFORM.

EX-SCOUTMASTER CHARGED. CANCELLATION OF WARRANT. MAGISTRATE IMPOSES FINE.. An unusual case was heard in the Police Court yesterday, when Douglas John McFarland, an ex-Boy Scoutmaster, was summoned on a charge of having unlawfully worn a scout's uniform. "This is a peculiar case," said SubInspector McCarthy. "McFarland was a scoutmaster once, but his warrant as an officer of tho associatiorf was cancelled. However, he still wore the uniform." Mr. McCarthy said defendant had been warned not to appear in tho uniform, but he had ignored tho warnings. There had been so much trouble about tho matter that tho police wero eventually informed and a prosecution was brought. Tho Act relating to military decorations and distinctive badges, under which defendant was charged, was very wide. It forbado anyone wearing a uniform anything like the - scout's suit.

Whilo admitting ho had worn the uniform after his warrant as a master had been recalled, McFarland staled ho had taken off the scoutmaster's badge, and ho therefore did nob think ho had committed an offence. He had been asked by the minister and a committee at New Lynn to look after a troop* of boys there. This he had done, and ho did not think ho was committing an offence in wearing the uniform. The assistant-commissioner of tho Auckland Boy Scouts' Association said no one but the authorities had a right to say who should wear uniforms.

Warning defendant against wearing tho uniform, the magistrate, Mr. F. K. Hunt, imposed a fine of £l.