Automatic pistols handed in

A member of the reporting staff of the Otago Daily Times was given some interesting information yesterday by Sergeant Boulton, officer in charge of the Dunedin arms department. Up to the present about 200 automatic revolvers have been sent to the office, have been valued by an expert, and then purchased by the department. These automatics are of all descriptions. One — a tiny Browning with a fine case about 6 inches long — is a beautiful piece of work. It carries about seven cartridges in the magazine, and if the gunman keeps the pressure on the trigger the bullets fly out as from a machine gun. When the pressure is released the revolver stops firing.

The best of the German automatics is the Luger, a fairly substantial-looking revolver with a fairly long range. Its mechanism is on the same principle as that of the Browning, to the extent that if the pressure is kept on the trigger the bullets stream out in a continuous flow, so to speak. As regards non-automatic revolvers, guns, rifles and pea rifles, these have to be sent in to be registered. They are then returned to their owners under licence. In the Dunedin district there have been 6,300 registrations of revolvers, guns, and rifles, and more are still coming in for registration. What the department proposes to do with the automatic revolvers which have been purchased is not known. The registration is chiefly formal, but the officer-in-charge was considerably confused the other day when he started to take down details from a woman regarding a registration, and then discovered that she had got into the wrong building and really desired to register her baby.

Remorse for professional lapse

A meeting of the Otago Centre of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association was held in the YMCA rooms last evening.

G.J. Kennedy wrote stating that he had competed in three professional races at Kaitangata and Port  Molyneux.

He was now sorry that he had done so, and asked for reinstatement. He was willing to refund the prize money he had won. Mr Mercer said that when Kennedy had gone to Kaitangata he had had no intention of competing in cash races. However, some amateurs running under assumed names had "kidded" him to have a go, and had thrown a suit of togs at him, and he had competed. It was decided to recommend to the council that Kennedy be reinstated at its next meeting. It was also decided to circularise athletic bodies, pointing out what constituted a breach of professionalism. The Chairman asked if delegates had any information regarding the allegation that amateurs had run at Kaitangata under assumed names. — ODT, 13.1.1922.