POLICE FORCE PAY

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2199, 11 July 1914, Page 6

POLICE FORCE PAY

A RECENT ADVANCE REPLY TO CRITICISM THE FORCE CONTENT When tlio Minister of Justice (the Hon, A., L. Herdman) moved, in the' House jof Representatives yesterday afternoon,, that the annual report of the Police Force 1 should lay oil. tlio table.- Mr. G: W. Russell, member for Avon, took '.the' somewhat : unusual courso of - referring to ail' advanco in pay made to'the members'of the. Force. He made an' objection on the ground that the increase had been made in an. unconstitutional manner.; He referred to the fact that the Minister had told the meml»ers of the Force in Auckland, when they applied for an increase, that lie considered their conditions were satisfactory, iand if they were not' satisfied they could leave the Force. Now, said Mr. Russell, it had been reported that since April 1 of this year the pay of; every man in'the Police Force hadleen raised to the extent of Is. per day, and that the.advance appeared to have been made without any authority from Parliament; . arid in .entire breach - of constitutional practice.'. - -.An , increasG c.f £18 to every 'man and officer in the Police Force of New Zealand, without any, authority from; Parliament at all. ■ '>■■ ■ - Mr..'Nosworthy: Are you against them getting the rise? . 'y Mr. Speaker: Order. ' Continuing, Mr; Russell said, that be had never .known of' such an uncpnstfc tutional -action being -performed, as. to 1 , raise the salaries of an entire service, by an amount.of £18 ss. per man,; without any authority from-/Parliament. ' Ho was not discussing whether the rate of pay wasiright or not, 'hut he was pre-, pared to'saj', on behalf ; of the whole of the members .on his', of the House, that, had they-beeii in power, the men of the Police; Force would have had their riso a year ago. • -It would not have been .'done in an unconstitutional manner, .after the Minister in cliargo had defied the men, and told them-that if.; they were not' satisfied:\they coulclcleair out; jof- the'Service.'But it' was' . election . year, a : . phrase they heard so often applied in 1911. Arid the Government' had 'gone into power, ana' promised that they would respect ; the Constitution. They .'weijef.tlie very, first'-to do a thing rieVsr-'dbnte :before'in the'history of . the country .'"He ventured : to sajyori the precedent : set - up, that, lie would* riot be surprised: if'hon. - 'members -were to' learn, later in . the vear, that ,it had been: decided to . add Is. per day to the ;pay .in:the Rail- ; way' Service,'., onexactly.. ' the same ■ method, if it was thought - that, bytlin.t me'ans. v tliey (the Government): would get back to power. . - . ' The- speaker' was interrupted from several quarters, and the Speaker' asked members ".to riefrain from making interjections. '' -•' . . -':. :Mr. <Ru?sell' said; that h'o, was riot siirWrised at'"-.tlie >ri pp 1 b \of .laughter that; Came, frorri 'tlio'se 'gentlemen when- they sa,w the', flight of.-fair and lust criticism turned on their action. Therewas no answer they would be able to give. So far as his side of the .House was concerned they had lip objection to the increase of pay, but they objected: W the unconstitutional. and improper manner _in which ;the Minister, loft; Justice, finding that he:-had l ' raised a hornet's nest about his ears,, by the manner in which ho ihad talked to' the, men who had .asked for an increaso and better conditioiis, had.turned round, and, without authority,; granted; tlicm ,'jVn in-' crease of £18 ss. .for every member. According to Precedent. The Hon. A; L, Herdman, in reply,■ said that if the member for Avon approved of. the increase, * \vliy ; was he making a complaint? He was confident members of the Police Force would read with.. considerable interest the speech, lie .had; made; ■ and would come to, the conclusion' that lie was bitterly opposed to the/action that had been taken m meting out justice. .The complaint, lie understood,'.was that;they had acted in .an unconstitutional 'maimer. He Would point out that, in 1912 an increase 0f:.6d,, per day was given to the Police , Force!. Tight throughout New Zealand. ; The mernbor -for Invercargillwould remember whether he .was the Minister in charge, or whether it was his predecessor. : . A member : It, was Sir .Tohn Findlay. .Mr. Herdman said that the impression left .on"his - mind, on tlio action of paying .an extra salary, when Parliament •was,' not: sitting,' was donovby a preceding- .Govevninent, and the, matter : was not unusual, for lie was informed that the;-same course was - taken ■in connection with the Railway - Service a week befor© ,tli© el6ctions| He wa3 not quite' certain of the facts, but' thought that-was the case; It seemed to.be the custom,' and if Parliament' objected, . they had the constitutional' method of refusing to put it. through the Estimates. V Ne'pd for the Increase. _The hon. member said l that lie (Mr. Herdman)' had made a statement to the men "in 'Auckland that they were receiving sufficient pay. That was perfectly true. He thought, when'ho came - , into office, that the .conditions-were satisfactory, ;-but, as.' time, went. 1 oil' ho found that high rates, of ruling outside, and tlie.v . could not get satisfactory; riiendri./the Police Force' on tlie rates .they were then paying; Ho discussed itlio-riiatter with tlio Comiriissioner of Police, and the Government decided, withi : a. - view to getting the best men : -into the Force, that .it'was advisable "to increase the remuneration; Wages had ' gone iip, all round, and men refused to ;coirie into the,'; Police Force, because wages offered -in' other channels were greater.' • It was . a difficult matter then to get . satisfactory men in the Force.- That -was brought upon ■ his mind at /tlie'tiriie of ...the recent industrial, conflict, arid the difficulty then was great. It was patent , that the ranks of the Police Force had to be recruited, and-it was necessary to do so'by taking the services of - 'the best .men.-:- If the lion., , member had any objection- to the course, taken, lie-had a remedy 'when the Estimates canie along: "If! he likedto move a reduction-of - the Police vote jthen, he'could do it.-- ■ • ~ Satisfactory Conditions. He believed, that'at the present..time the conditions'under which the Police worked in New Zealand were more satisfactory v th'an they , had ever been. 'Ho believed ■to-day that their .conditionswere better than the conditions of thePolice Force in any other part of the" British Dominions, and he was glad to be able'. to state that throughout the of the Force contentment prevailed; The men -were satisfied with their lot, and -he believed they had in the Service as good men as it, was possible to; get iiv'the. Dominion. ,