POLICE IN ROLE OF GATE CRASHERS

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 164, 13 July 1931, Page 8

POLICE IN ROLE OF GATE CRASHERS

STOUT DEFENCES FOUND IN RAID ON CHINESE

The parties held at No. 39, Allen Street, were never disturbed by gate crashers. Unless one had an invitation, and things were otherwise in order, there was no chance of getting in. The police, never having been trained in the finesse that is the gate crasher’s principal weapon, used cruder methods last night. They got in, but they made a lot of noise about it and upset the party to such an extent that proceedings were terminated for the evening.

Guests assembled round the rush lamp hate the intrusion of noisy outsiders. They upset their meditations. The police must have been particularly noisy. Broken windows and shattered frames cannot be produced without a certain amount of violence being done to the serenity of a Sabbath evening. The use of a hundredweight block of concrete and a half side of an old packing case as battering rams would be calculated to upset any gathering. Assault Made With Vigour.

And last night the police upset the party at No. 39, Allen Street, completely. For some little time they had been waiting for the psychological moment—the moment that was most convenient for their own purposes and most inconvenient for those who did not want their attendance. The moment arrived last night, and they made the assault with all the vigour that careful inspection had indicated to be necessary. The defences of No. 39 were stout, but inadequate. For the most part they appeared to depend on portions of stout packing cases and six-inch nails. Heavy timbers had been nailed across the insides of windows. Two windows at the back, one on the ground floor and one on the first floor, were attacked. The heavy timbers inside stood up to the battering, but the nails were forced out and the timbers wrenched away. With the windows broken and gaps in the protective timbering, the place this morning looked a pretty frail sort of fortress. It was silent and deserted, and the doors were locked. The head of a heavy bolt protruding through the back door told of reinforcing within. This added protection to the door was evidently sufficient to compel the police to make their attack by way of the windows. The building is an old one, and it looked as though, with the heavy weapons used, the police could have broken in at any part of it. The windows were evidently chosen as affording the most speedy means of securing entrance.