Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Editorial: Long arm of the law over-reaches itself

Mark Dawson
Editor·Whanganui Chronicle·
2 Jan, 2018 12:00 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Mark Dawson, editor of Wanganui Chronicle

Mark Dawson, editor of Wanganui Chronicle

I have often worried that we live in a society where officialdom has gone mad.

Further evidence that we are in danger of warping into some form of over-regulated totalitarian state, at the mercy of those with "the power", was provided at the weekend.

It came courtesy of the police in Whangamata who decided to enforce a beach booze ban ... and then some.

They apparently had the right to search the vehicles of those using the beach and confiscate all alcohol — even though nobody was drinking it.

Hamilton man Michael Wilson and his pals had a swim at the beach before heading home. In their van were two boxes of vodka cruisers they had just bought to drink later that night. The boxes were still sealed but that didn't stop the long arm of the law from taking them.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A couple of German tourists who had stopped at the beach for a shower suffered the same over-zealous fate.

Clearly no law was being broken. I do not know the wording of the local bylaw but, presumably, it is in place to stop people drinking on the beach rather than just parking there on their way to somewhere else.

What did the police action achieve other than proving they were killjoys and making people miserable? There is no suggestion their fervid application of the rulebook prevented any misdemeanours or transgressions that day.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A police spokesman said people were still allowed to buy alcohol. But they had to take it straight home — "You can't deviate". How utterly ridiculous.

We rely on the police to use a most valuable tool called discretion. They are expected to have some innate sense of what's wrong and what's right and apply that discretion accordingly. That wasn't happening in Whangamata where, incidentally, the "lawbreakers" were also pinged with a $250 fine.

The German tourists said they won't be back, and who can blame them.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

More rain on way in Whanganui

23 Sep 04:00 AM
Whanganui Chronicle

Candidate calls for councils to merge

23 Sep 01:00 AM
Whanganui Chronicle

Turnout lagging in Whanganui's general ward and district’s new Māori ward

22 Sep 09:08 PM

Sponsored

Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable

22 Sep 01:23 AM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

More rain on way in Whanganui
Whanganui Chronicle

More rain on way in Whanganui

'It’s a bit of a damp week for Whanganui.'

23 Sep 04:00 AM
Candidate calls for councils to merge
Whanganui Chronicle

Candidate calls for councils to merge

23 Sep 01:00 AM
Turnout lagging in Whanganui's general ward and district’s new Māori ward
Whanganui Chronicle

Turnout lagging in Whanganui's general ward and district’s new Māori ward

22 Sep 09:08 PM


Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable
Sponsored

Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable

22 Sep 01:23 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP