Rain and tightly enforced alcohol bans are credited by police for a New Year's Eve that resulted in fewer arrests than in previous years.
Police officers at hot-spots throughout the North Island believe the rain was a dampener on disorderly behaviour, yielding a workload that was on a parwith a normal Friday night.
Detective Senior Sergeant Allan Boreham of Auckland Central police said 64 arrests was low considering the number of people out and about.
"Everybody has been good-natured and the general consensus is that it is not uncommon to have arrested this many people on a Friday night anyway."
However, West Auckland police investigated two complaints of rape on Saturday morning. A man later appeared in the Waitakere District Court on a charge of unlawful sexual connection.
A Papakura man is in Middlemore Hospital recovering from machete wounds received during a domestic incident.
In Wellington, a 27-year-old security guard was still in Wellington Hospital yesterday after being stabbed twice in the stomach.
A 30-year-old man has been charged with intent to cause grievous bodily harm after the incident, which occurred just minutes into the New Year outside Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand.
Mt Maunganui police reported one of the best-behaved crowds in memory. They made 49 arrests by 4 am compared with 160 last year.
In Rotorua, 13 arrests were made, all for alcohol-related offences, including domestic assault and breach of liquor bans.
