POLICEMAN’S LIFE

Hokitika Guardian, 15 March 1921, Page 4

POLICEMAN’S LIFE

1 STKA.XUK 11111 NI) OF ADVKNTIJHF 1 SYDNEY, .March 1. V The number of duties a policeman is • compelled to perform by direction of i officialdom is surprising, but on occa- - sinus he lias even to step over the redtape boundary and add a few more tasks to his already busy life. A ease of this kind recently came under notice at police headquarters. , It was the ease of a constable stat tinned in the “never-never” country who had to look alter a vast area. He ) was seldom out of the saddle, and he used to tell with pride that he could ] sleep while his horse jogged along. His wife ,sometimes did not see him for necks. He was a typical country, mounted man, hard as nails, and he t grew the conventional heard of the “out-back” policeman. He never cared what work lie did. Riding along through the country one s day lie came across the dead body of a man beside a waggonette stocked with stores. The man luid not been dead long. In the city the body would have been removed to the morgue, but “outhack” there are no morgues, and no removal was necessary. The man was , dead, that was certain, and the conI stable felt the pulse to satisfy himself, I so that he would be able to play the role of doctor and give a certificate of death to himself in his capacity as Registrar of Births and Deaths at his headquarters. Realising that immediate burial was imperative, he made the necessary preparations. He decided that the body , must have it coffin. The timber for the collin had to he cut, and with the dead man’s axe he chopped down a few trees close by and split them into six-feet lengths. These he put together with a few nails and pieces of hoop-iron. A Led of grass for the body to lie on, and the coffin was complete. 'Then he dug • a grave. 1 Finding a Bible among the articles in possession of the dead man, he read ■ a few passages from it and recited the ' burial service, and. filling in the grave, he marked the spot with a large stone, I and on a piece of deal wood wrote the date and the circumstances of the finding of the body. Being the local agent for the Curator of Estates, the constable was compelled to look after the property of the man Harnessing the horse to the waggonload of goods, he tied his own horse to the hack of the vehicle and drove nearly 50 miles to his police station. Here he made out the necessary notices required for the disposal of the deceased’s property. And on a given day he conducted an auction sale of the horse, waggon, and stock, realising a fair sum, which was sent to the Curator of Estates. Verily the responsibilities of a country policeman are many and various.