Christchurch Cycling Craze #16 - The Long Arm - or Wheel - of the Law

With all that cycling going on, some of it had to be a threat to law and order, surely? So if you can't beat them...

A police cycle patrol in Christchurch, which was raised to thwart a horse fiend.
From left: Constables J Andrews, D G Sinclair, W Ainsworth, A E Rowell, P Fitzgerald, District Clerk A Stanton, Constables T Barrett, J Hayes, S Flewellen, Cycling Instructor Mr F Painter, Constable D H Hannafin, Sergeant Major W T Mason, Detective R Marsack, Constable J Dougan, Station Cook W Kwoe, Constable W Tonkin, and Detective L D Benjamin. Taken by Frederick Nelson Jones in 1896. Alexander Turnbull Library

And then there was the small matter of enforcing the emerging rules of the road:

Traffic Officer Herbert MacIntosh prepares to mount his bicycle while his brothers and sisters watch in 1895, a time when motor cycles and cars were yet to become police equipment. Photo: Standish & Preece. Christchurch City Libraries.