Arms registration arrangements

The local police have been receiving a large number of applications for the registration of firearms under the new Arms Act, but these cannot be dealt with for a week or so yet, as the necessary forms have not come to hand. Sergeant Scandrett has been appointed arms officer here, and a special office for dealing with this department will shortly be opened upstairs at the police station. It is anticipated that the number of arms to be registered here, owing to the abundance of rabbit shooting in the vicinity, will be greater than in any other centre, and cases are known in which there are 14 or 15 guns in one house. The only work under the Act at present being carried out is the issuing of licences to dealers in arms and ammunition. The licence to carry is necessary only in the case of revolvers, which will first have to be registered like other firearms. Licences to carry are to be issued only in exceptional circumstances. In view of the wide variety of weapons about, the police are going to insist that each one is to be brought in for inspection before it is registered.