THE Evening Star. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1869.
Perhaps no better merited tributes of respect have ever been accorded to a public officer than those wliich Mr St, John Branigan received from the Police force and citizens to-day. The position which he has filled with such advantage to the Province and credit to himself for eight years, lias been an onerous and difficult one. The public eye has been constantly upon him, and he has been more than once placed in embarrassing and perplexing positions, through the peculiar jjolitical situations of the Province, requiring the utmost earn and circumspection on his part; but he has passed through them all. Men of >
less judgment and tact, or of weaker nerve, might very easily have committed some grave blunder that would have involved awkward complications, and ended in disaster to themselves. This he avoided without in the slightest degree compromising himself or the force under his command, and the sound judgment, tact, and foresight displayed under those very trying circumstances, form sufficient guarantee that, in his new position, equal energy and determination, tempered by prudence, will be displayed. No official position that we know of is more onerous than that of Commissioner of Police, if the nature of the service is considered. His duties differ very materially from, and involve in many respects higher qualities of mind than the commander of a military force. He has not only to organise his constabulary to equal soldiery in efficiency when called upon to act, but he must know each member of it individually, mark his moral qualities, command of temper, fitness to be trusted under circumstances peculiarly calculated to irritate and annoy. The enemy ho has to deal with is subtle and secret. He must take means by using fitting agencies to keep down that mass of festering pollution that lies at the foot of the social structure, ready to crop up and cast its baneful poison upon the higher strata whenever the ■ repressing influence is relaxed. It has been to the unceasing watchfulness resulting from the admirable organisation of the Police force of Otago that the province owes that immunity from crime that has marked its history during the excitement of gold-digging and its consequent temptations. Nor has this been done at great expense, considering the nature of the service. Had much more money been spent during the last eight years than has been found necessaiy, there would have been great saving when the cost of actual crime is balanced against the cost of prevention. There always will be murmurers at the expense of maintaining law and order. They can only see one side of the ledger. Could a comparative estimate according to population be made between New South Wales and Otago, in which the value of individual losses through bushrangers was added to the expense of the police force, it would prove very much in favor of peaceful and orderly Otago. Under Mr Branigan’s direction, the police force has been efficient, without being too numerous. In fact, timid men in outlying districts have sometimes complained of want of protection. But it has been proved that a v eil-disciplined respectable force like that of Otago, is far more potent in protecting life and property, than twice their number if less carefully selected and trained. Much of their efficiency depends upon the esprit de corps, and this in great measure depends upon the presiding head. To be a strict disciplinarian, without rousing the enmity of the incompetent, is not in the nature of things. None but men fully equal to their duties can endure that constant watchfulness over their proceedings that must be instituted by an able Commissioner of Police. The nature of the service will not permit departure from the strictest line of duty. Conduct that in a mere soldier would be of trifling importance, would render a policeman unfit for the duties of his office. It is therefore the highest compliment that could be paid to Mr Branigan, that he has not only secured the efficient services, but the esteem of the officers and men lately under his command. Much as he may value the handsome recognition of bis past sexwices by the inhabitants of Duudedin and the Province, he has a right to be prouder still of the tribute presented to him by the Police Force itself. It is said that in order to appreciate worth a man must he worthy, and there is much truth in this. Those who could thus come forward and so handsomely testify their appreciation of the late Commissioner as their superior, prove beyond question that they themselves are entitled to their share of the trust and confidence reposed in him. They show that theirs has not been a mere mechanical obedience to orders, sometimes laying upon them toilsome, irksome, and unpleasant duties, but that the}' are capable of understanding and carrying them out, from a conviction that they arc necessary for the fulfilment of their peculiar calling. This willing, cheerful performance of duty is a marked feature in the Otago police. It runs through the force, and seems to animate alike officers and men. Gratifying to Mr Branigan as the presentation of the handsome present from the police may be, the Province ought to be equally proud of public servants who see in so strict a disciplinarian qualities of heart and mind that have secured for him their respect and esteem.
Gold in Nelson.—lu tjjc Upper Buller and its tributaries, says the Nelson Examiner , about 300 men kept steadily at work, and are known to be doing well. In the Wangapeka and neighboring valleys several parties are profitably employed, and the district will be more extensively prospected this spring than it ever has yet boon, a strong feeling prevailing that auriferous quartz reefs exist in the neighborhood. From the opposite side of tho Bay the return of gold for the hands employed is very satisfactory ; and an effort is about to be made to open the Anatoki, in tho Upper Takaka a district known to bo rich in go’d, but which, from the difficulty of reaching it, has hitherto been practically sealed against miners. Political. —Mr E. J. C. Stevens, M. IT. 8., for the Selwyn district, in the General Assembly, addressed a crowded and most orderly meeting of his constituents at Lee-don, on Tuesday evening last. He spoke for an hour and a-half. At the conclusion of his address scvcrl persons also spoke, and a resolution wai carried to the effect that Mr Stevens, in voting against the corn duty he had not consulted the iutcrert of his constituents ; at the same time an expression was given that it was the belief of the meeting that Mr Stevens had voted conscientiously. No expression of opinion that Air Stevens ought to resign was even mooted. —Timaru Herald. Quautz Keeps in Westland.—Our Hokitika contemporary of Oct. 15th says: — We were inhumed on reliable authority yesterday. that a payable quartz reef had been discovered in the Taipo district. A man who was returning from tho Paddock Station was overtaken by a digger, who, after some conversation, showed him several very line specimens of gold-bearing quartz which he had obtained from a reef in the above district. The stone was also shown, says our informant, to a resident on the Christchurch Road, who is known by the name of “Old John.” It appears the digger was on his way to the Greenstone to inform his mates of his luck, and also, it was understood, with the purpose of making application to the Warden there for a prospecting or extended claim. .Should such lie the case we shall be able to supply early information of the circumstance Jrom our correspondent at the Greenstone. The minor was, of course, reticent as to the exact locolity where the reef is situated, but of tho richness of the quartz shown to our informant there is not the slightest doubt.
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Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2017, 22 October 1869, Page 2
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1,326THE Evening Star. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1869. Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2017, 22 October 1869, Page 2
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