POLICEMEN SOON TO WEAR SHAKOS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18144, 2 May 1927, Page 5

POLICEMEN SOON TO WEAR SHAKOS.

NO OBJECTION, SAYS HEAD OF N.Z. DEPARTMENT. Stating that if shalcos were good enough for the Army at Home, they were good enough for him, Mr W. B. M’lrvsney, Commissioner of Police, declared prior to his departure from Christchurch on Saturday night that though there had been much talk about the new head-gear of the Dominion Police, no sound objection could be made. “Christchurch will have .the new uniforms any day now,” the Commissioner declared. “ I can’t say exactly 1 when, but we are issuing them as fast as we possibly can. It will be a much better uniform than that at present in “ Badges and buttons will be changed. To day as far as the buttons on a policeman's tunic are concerned, the constable might be a railway porter or a tram guard. This will not be so with the new uniforms. They will be policeman's buttons, and there will be no mistaking the fact. It -will be the same with the hat badges. The}’, too. will indicate that the wearer is a member of the police force. “ There has been a lot of talk about the shakos. There is nothing wrong with them. There is nothing better. They are good enough for the Army at Home —and they are good enough for “ Not until the full issue required for the outfitting of every policeman in Christchurch has been received here, will the men appear in public with their new uniforms,” said the Commissioner. “ That, however, as I have already said, will not be long. “ During my 'short stay in Christchurch I addressed all the available men. I spoke to them for two and a half hours. I had a lot to say to them. But when I had finished they wanted more. I have not received a complaint about the men. Neither have I received a complaint from them.”