The Globe. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1878.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1440, 27 September 1878, Page 2

The Globe. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1878.

Mr. Vincent Pyre, M.H.R. for Duustan, long and perhaps favorably known both in tho Parliamentary and official world of this colony, lately tabled a notice of motion in the House of Representatives to the effect that the pay of tho police should ho increased. That such a proposal should emanate from an out-and-out supporter of the Ministry—recognised as such at least during this session—is a somewhat suggestive fact. Tho police department is without doubt one of the most important of tho Civil Service, and its efficiency nowadays is probably a matter of more moment to the public at large than was the ease in years gone hy when the country was more sparsely settled and population was of a less mixed character. That tho Government should have so neglected to take the initiative in remodelling the wretched state of things now making that department so notorious in tho eyes of everyone, has, for some mouths past, been a subject of general comment. And, like many other questions of a similar nature, it is to a great degree one of finance purely. Mr. Pyke, himself a not inexperienced tyro in police matters, seem to have gone to the root of tho evil, when moving that tho pay of the police ho increased above the rate which now rules under tho present system. Tho debate on the resolution of which lie gave notice has been adjourned for a fortnight, to allow of tho report of a committee appointed to examine into the existing system being brought up. When this debate comes on, wo believe that the whole fabric of absurdities which has distinguished tho management of the department since the Colonial Secretary, Colonel Whitmore, look upon himself to assume immediate charge of it, will he brought to tho ground, and that some amusing disclosures will also ho made, which will perhaps explain the love for impossible utopias for which that gallant officer is noted. The Government organ in Wellington lias already taken the alarm at the prospect offered by tlio report of the Select Committee appointed by the House, together with what will certainly bo the outcome of the debate, and it is trying to smooth tho way for incoming difficulties, in a lata article, while mildly admitting the state ox inefficiency in which the police is well known to he throughout tho colony, that organ attributes it to tho fact that men who served in the Provincial police services did not choose to accept the terms offered when the Force was colonialised after the abolition of the provinces. What the so-called terms were our contemporary takes care not to explain, but it is well known that they meant a more reduced scale of pay than that which obtained before the celebrated conference of high-class police-officers, who, when they assembled at Wellington, previous to last session, thought best to recommend a lower rale of remuneration for the men, and an increase of salary for themselves and other officers. Tho A cw Zealander, the organ to which we, of course, refer, considers that tho present

pay of the police “is not now unreasonably low, as it is unfair to compare it with the rate of wages obtaining for general labour.” It argues that if 7s to 9s is a fair estimate of an ordinary labourer’s wages, that of the policeman should not bo higher. Wo have often before shown the fallacy of the argument. To compare the qualifications necessary to constitute a well-t rained and useful officer of police to those appertaining to a muscular —if brainless and untutored —navvy, is simply absurd. Colonel Whitmore, however, appears to think otherwise. To him is mainly duo the chaotic state into which police organization has drifted for some time past. The question of underpaying the men is not at the bottom of the whole thing. The control and management of the department has of late been such as to preclude efficiency in matters of detail. Colonel Whitmore may bo said to bo the Commissioner-in-Ohiof for the whole colony. Superintendents in charge of districts are mere dummies in his hands, moved like Messrs. Webb and Trotter’s Marionettes, by the aid of wires. The so-called officer in charge of the Middle Island, Mr. T. K. Weldon, resides in Dunedin, and he is supposed to have under his control the various police districts within that jurisdiction. But his power is purely nominal. Neither ho nor his brother—or subordinate —Superintendents possess the power of dismissing the “ fullest” private that toes the mark in the depot, without the Honorable Colopel Whitmore's especial sanction obtained after telegraphic inquiries into the facts. Red-tape is everywhere, and semi-military dillotantism rules every thought and action of the gallant Colonial Secretary. The Superintendents in charge of the Provincial Districts are mere clerical machines, and their old experience in the police service is no longer of any use to them. Common-sense people would, have thought that the exigencies of the public interests would require that the head of the Middle Island police should reside in Christchurch, as the most central spot from which all general supervision could more easily and more economically radiate. This course has been followed in other departments where disconnection between the two islands has been found necessary. The Railway control is a case in point. Wo should have thought that that of the police would have been very much more so. It would appear as if the usual cogent reasons of State stopped the way. Lot us hope that the results of the labours of the Select Committee appointed by the House to investigate the ins and outs of the mysterious and undefined state in which police matters are now placed may receive at the hands of the House the full consideration which they deserve. This police question is getting to bo a serious one, and if Parliament docs not interfere before the rising of the Assembly, there is no saying what further ducks and drakes may bo played with it during the recess to the danger of public interests, and which will finally effect the utter demoralisation of the force.