THE WELLINGTON POLICE AND AUSTRALIAN DEFAULTERS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4459, 5 July 1875, Page 7

THE WELLINGTON POLICE AND AUSTRALIAN DEFAULTERS.

The following is ■ the correspondence in full relative to the arrest by the Wellington police of George 3laurice Drummond, who was formerly manager of the Provincial and Suburban Bank, 3lelbourne Melbourne, Jan. 27,1574. . Embezzlement. —Provincial and Suburban Bank, George Maurice Drummond—£6o reward guaranteed for tire arrest and 10 per cent, on any moneys recovered which will reduce the claim on the London Guarantee Society, Photo, herewith.— \V. Mainwarino, S. Inspector in charge. The Officer in charge of Police, Wellington, Dunedin, and Christchurch. Upon receipt of Die above Drummond was arrested on' the 12th February, 1574. He was sent to Melbourne on the 10th March. Wellington, February 14, 1874. Sir, —I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a letter signed by W. Maimvaring, pro Sub-inspector in charge of detective office, Melbourne, relative to George Maurice Drummond, charged on warrant with embezzlement at Kichinond, Melbourne : and to in- ■ form you that Drummond was arrested here ou the 12th instant, by the police under my charge, on hoard the Mikado. The sum of £470 in gold, all in half-sove-reigns, ivas found in the offender's possession. I have to request that you will be good enough to send me one of your constables armed with necessary documents as early as possible, for the purpose of conveying the prisoner to Melbourne. You will be good enough to inform me whether I shall forward the money recovered as above to you by bank draft or by the hands of the constable. 'I may further inform you that Drummond had taken passages for himself and Miss Austin from Dunedin to San Francisco, and paid the sum of £B3 for the same. This amount has not been recovered.—l have, &c., . F. Atchison, Inspector. Fred. Standjsh, Esq., Chief Commissioner of Police) Melbourne. Police Office, Wellington, March 16, 1875. Sir, —The prisoner George Maurice Drummond is this day forwarded to Melbourne in the custody of Constable Leddy. ' I shall feel obliged by your forwarding to mo a bank draft for the amount of the reward, &0., guaranteed forthe arrest of the offender in question, viz.;— Howard guaranteed per letter received from the Detective Police Department, Melbourne, dated January 31, 1874 .. --£SO 0 0 Ten per cent, on monies recovered ou £470 ... .. .... .. 47 0 0 Further reward, as per Police Gazette, Victoria, dated February 10,1874 .. 25 0 0 Total £122 0 0 I am, ke., P. Atchison, Inspector. Police Department.'Chief Commissioner’s Office, Melbourne, March IS, 1874. Sik,—l have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 28th nit., respecting the offender G. M. Drummond, with hank draft for £4OB 12s. lOd. enclosed. ... In reply, 1 beg to thaak you for the prompt action taken to secure the money for the bank to which it belongs.—l have, &c.; Frederick Siandisii, Chief Commissioner. The Inspector of Police, Wellington. Police Department, Chief Commissioner’s Office, Melbourne, 12th May, 1874. Sir, —I hgve the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 16th March. InJ-eply, I beg to inform you that the whole of the reward offered for the arrest of the offender, G. M. Drummond, has not yet been received. The reward of £SO offered by the London Guarantee and Accident Company and that of £25 offered by the Provincial and Suburban Bank, are the only sums that have been obtained. The percentage of the money recovered on the arrest of the prisoner cannot at present be got, as there is a probability of a lawsuit between the Guarantee Company and the Bank respecting the money in question. I have forwarded the £75 to the Chief Secretary, informing him that the police in New Zealand are alone entitled to the reward, and requesting that the amount may bo sent to the Premier in New Zealand, for distribution as may be decided upon’ by the authorities there. As soon as. the amount of the percentage on. tile money recovered on the arrest of Drummond lias been received, it will bo remitted in a similar manner. I would accordingly suggest that you submit your claim to the Premier, or to the officer appointed by him, to decide how the reward is to be divided.—l have, &c. Frederick Standisji, Chief Commissioner. Police Office, Wellington, 2Gth September, 1874. Sir,—l have the honor to inform you that I have received from his Honor the Superintendent of this province, the sum of £75 in payment of the reward for the apprehension of G. M. Drummond. I would beg to draw your attention to the fact, that a commission of.lo per cent, on monies recovered was also guaranteed, and I should feel obliged by your taking steps to obtain the amount (£47), as 'early as convenient. —I have, &c., F. Atchison, Inspector. Police Department, Chief Commissioner's Office, Melbourne, 7th November, 1874. Sjxij—l have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 26th September, with reference to payment of the reward offered for the apprehension of the offender G. M. Drummond. In reply, I beg to inform you that the Directors of the Provincial and Suburban Bank have been unable to make good their claim against the London Guarantee and Accident Company under the bond, in consequence of which there will be no further reward beyond the sum already paid.—l have, &c., Frederick Standish, Chief Commissioner.

November 23, 1874. Sm,—l have the honor to bring, under your notice the following circumstances connected with the arrest of Geo. M. Drummond, late manager of the Provincial and Suburban Bank, at Richmond, In February last, I received a letter and a copy of the Victoria Police Gazette from the police authorities at Melbourne, Informing inc that G. M. Drummond had embezzled certain monies belonging.to the bank at Richmond, and that in consequence the London. Guarantee Society, ‘‘through their ' chairman, Sir George Verdon, had offered *and guaranteed the sum of £SO as a reward for the arrest of the offender, and 10 per cent, on monies recovered reducing the plaim of the bank upon the society." The offender was subsequently arrested hero by the police under my charge, and the sum of £471 recovered, which sum was in duo course forwarded to the Commissioner of Police, Melbourne. In May last, I received a letter from the Commissioner of Police, Melbourne; stating “that the £SO had been forwarded to the police through the Chief Secretary of New Zealand, and that the percentage, viz., £47 25., could not at present bo got, as.there was a probability of a lawsuit between the Guarantee Society and the Bank respecting the money in question, hut that as soon as the amount of the percentage on the money recovered had been received, it would bo remitted to New Zealand in a similar manner.” On the 26th of September last I addressed a letter to the-Commissioner of Police, Melbourne, requesting payment of the guaranteed percentage money, viz., £47 25., and received the following reply a day or two ago “ I beg to inform you that tho directors of the Provincial and Suburban Bank have been unable to make good their claim against the London Guarantee and Accident Company under the bond, in consequence of which there will be no further reward beyond the sum already paid." I beg to point out that tho terms of the Guarantee Society made with tho police, viz., £SO reward and 10 per cent, on monies recovered, cannot possibly have anything to do with any differences there may bo existing between tho Guarantee Society and thoTJank. The former, so far as concerns tho police, guarantees the payment of a certain percentage on monies recovered without any proviso whatever. The reasons set forth by tho Commissioner of Police at Melbourne, and above quoted, for tho withholding of the sum in question are or such an untenable character, and so entirely at variance with advices re-ceived-in February last, that I have been induced to communicate with you on the subject, with a request that you will be so kind as to give tho matter your consideration, —I have, &c., P. Atchison, Inspector.' Sir Geo, Verdon, Chairman of London Guarantee and Accident Society, Melbourne.

The London Guarantee and Accident Company (Limited), Melbourne Branch, 41, Queen-street, Jan. 5, 1875. Sir, —I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 22rd November, addressed to the chairman. It appears from the terms of your communication that the conditions upon which rewards were offered

tor the arrest and conviction of G. M. Drummond by this company have been misunderstood, In addition to the reward given by the Provincial and Suburban Bank, the sum of £SO was offered bins, this has been duly paid. The commission to which you refer was payable upon such sum as might be saved to the company from the payment, if any, to the bank under its policy, by recovery of the money embezzled. But no claim against the company could be maintained at law, and the matter was compromised. - As this company gains nothing by the-recovery of part of the money found upon Drummond, it is the opinion of my directors that they have done all that is required of them under their arrangement with the police oflice here, and that the reward they have paid is not inadequate to the service rendered. —I have, &0., C. F. Yencken, Secretary. " February 15, 1875. Sir adverting to the arrest of G. M. Drummond, a Victorian offender, and to the payment of the reward offered and guaranteed in the Victoria Police Gazette for the arrest of the said offender, I respectfully beg to state that the said offender was arrested by-the police in Wellington, and the sum of £471 recovered upon him. ~ . .. ‘ ... , The guarantee for that portion of the reward, namely the 10 per cent, on the amount recovered, is now repudiated, and the percentage, £47 25.. withheld for reasons which I submit are not very clear to me nor very logical, and which if insisted upon may in the future lead to serious embarrassments in the furtherance of the ends of.justico. I enclose herewith the correspondence relative to the whole subject, and invite your Honor to a perusal of the letter addressed to me by the London Guarantee and Accident Company, The law, it appears, was not invoked to adjust matters between the Dank and the Guarantee Company, and I am now informed that the matter was “ compromised.” . The reward in question having been guaranteed and published in the. Victorian Police Gazette of the 3rd February, 1874, under the authority, I assume, of the Victorian Government’, I submit that the terms of the guarantee should be fulfilled. The police here recovered a large sum, which, I suppose, benefited some person; and in place of being met promptly by the payment of what was guaranteed to them for their services, the opposite has been the result. I regret to say that my past dealings with the Victorian police in connection with the apprehension of absconders, and the subsequent payment of the reward offered, has somewhat shaken my confidence in the value of guarantees appearing in the Police Gazette of Victoria. , I refer to the apprehension of Alfred Cullamoro, for whose arrest £56 Was guaranteed, but for which no more than £25 was ever received by the Wellington police. . . I submit that the term “compromise, as used in the letter from the Guarantee Company, is of itself sufficient to show that a concession of some kind was made,' and that some person or persons benefited at the expense of the Wellington police. If the reply from the Guarantee Company (enclosed) is to be considered final, I cannot help thinking that we have been most ungenerously treated in the matter. May I. therefore, request that your Honor will be pleased to bring this matter under the notice of the Hon. the Chief Secretary of Victoria, with a view of removing the present unsatisfactory features of this case, and of preserving that harmony between the police forces of Victoria and New Zealand, so necessary in intercolonial relation in the detection of criminals. It has been our good fortune to have arrested many Victorian criminals, for whom no award has been offered ; and even Drummond would have been arrested, whether any reward had been attached to his apprehension qv not, but I think that when a reward-is offered in specific and unmistakable terms, as has been done in this case, that it should bo promptly paid, and that something called “acom-; promise ” should not be set up as an excuse for evading a just responsibility.—l have, &c., F. Atchison, Inspector. His Honor the Superintendent of Wellington.

Superintendent’s Office, • Wellington, April 20. 1875.. Sib,—Referring to my letter of the 22nd February last, in reply to yours of the 15th of the same month, relative to reward offered for the apprehension of G. M. Drummond, I have now the honor to forward you copy of a letter from the Colonial Secretary (April 27, 1875.) together with the reply of the Chief Secretary o! Victoria, and Die enclosures accompanying it, to your letter of the 15th February last. You will please return the Chief Secretary’s letter and enclosures to this oflico when you have perused them. —I have, &c., William Fitziierbert, Superintendent. F. Atchison, Esq,, the Inspector of Police, Wellington. • Colonial Secretary’s Office, Wellington, April 27,1575. Sir,—Adverting to your Honor’s letter of the 18th February last, transmitting copy of letter and enclosures you had received from Mr. Atchison, Inspector of Police, on the subject of the reward offered for the apprehension of G.M. Drummond, the absconding bank manager, and requesting that the matter might bo brought under the notice of the Victorian Government, I have the honor to inform you that your, request was complied with, and I beg to enclose for information a copy of the Chief Secretary’s reply, and of-the. enclosures accompanying it.—l have, - . : Daniel Pollen.

Chief Secretary’s Office, ■ Melbourne, April 5, 1875. Sin,—l have the.honpr to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 22nd ultimo, enclosing communications from the Superintendent of Wellington, and the Inspector of the Wellington Provincial Police, together with other correspondence on the subject of the non-payment of the reward o£ ton p 3 ou the amount recovered from G. M. DrumnjOivl on his apprehension. I enclose herewith*a report from the officer in charge of detectives, which will fully explain the circumstances Of this matter, Mr. Atchison, the Inspector of the .Wellington Provincial Police,' is laboring under a misapprehension as to the position of the Victorian Government with regard to the non-payment of the amount claimed. He evidently thinks the Government is responsible, but how he can have formed such an ideal do not know. I- forward copies of the two notices of the offer of reward that appeared in the Police Gazette, but in neither is there anything to show that this Government is responsible. To prevent the inconvenience that would follow from offers of rewards being inserted in the Police Gazette, and then repudiated by those who made them, the following notice is inserted at the commencement of each volume of the Gazette: — “ Rewards.—No notice of rewards* offered by any private party or parties will for the future be inserted in the Police Gazette , unless there be forwarded to the officer in charge of Detective Police the guarantee of soma responsible person that the reward shall be payable to the person who performs the service for which the reward is offered. The offer must be according to law, that is, on the arrest or conviction of the offender, and not merely on the recovery of property. -If such notice be communicated by telegraph, the addition of the words ‘guarantee received’ will be sufficient; in such coses, however, the guarantee must bo forwarded without delay.” The rule thus laid down is carefully acted upon, but tlie Government no more becomes liable for the payment of sums offered in this manner than do the, proprietors of a newspaper for the payment of rewards advertised in its columns. When payments of rewarclssoguaranteed are refused, it is usual to hand the guarantees to the members of the force who are entitled, and leave them to sue or not as they may think proper; and if it be thought desirable, that course can be followed in this instance. I would invite your attention to the tone of Mr. Atchison’s letter, which is in itself objectionable, and but Uttlo calculated to preserve that harmony between the police forces of the two colonies which that officer professes to regard as of such great importance (as it undoubtedly is) iu the interests of justice.—l have, &c.. Geo. B. Keßfeud, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Wellington.

Police Department, (Detective office) Memo. Melbourne, Marcli 12, 1875. In reply to the Chief Commissioner’s Memo. I 2076 on the attached file, 1 beg to inform him, in the first place, that all guarantees for payments of rewards are made out for arrest and conviction. The rewards offered for the arrest and conviction of Drummond were £25 by the Provincial and Suburban Bank, and £OO by the London Guarantee and Accident Company, with 10 per cent, additional by the latter, as per copy of guarantee attached. It appears that Drummond was guaranteed for £IOOO by tire above company, on the representation made (when the policy was opened) by Mr; Jamieson, the then manager of the bank, that lie, Drfunmond, was free from debt. . On his absconding the bank claimed from the company .£l9O, which they repudiated on two grounds : first, that the polity was null and void on account of it having been effected' under a false' representation made by the manager of the bank ; and also that they the company, were not liable, as the bank had become possessed of a draft for £037 10s., which instead of retaining to reimburse themselves, they made over improperly to the Oriental Bank. In explanation of the latter ground, I must inform the Chief Commissioner that the Oriental Bank Corporation have contracted to pay all cheques on the Provincial and Suburban Bank that were signed by the manager and countersigned by the accountant: but on the day of Drummond absconding ho presented a cheque tor £987 not countersigned by tiro accountant. The Oriental Bank paid tills cheque inadvertently, but the Suburban Bank would not acknowledge its Ua. bility. However, when the draft for £037 ICs. was recovered it was made over by tire Provincial and Suburban to the Oriental Bank. In fact, bad the Provincial Bank kept this draft, which they had a perfect right to do, the Oriental Bank would have been the losers, and no claim could have boon made on the insurance company by the Provincial Bank, as they-actually hold more in their possession than their loss amounted to. The recovery of the £471 by the Wellington police made no difference to the insurance company. The rewards in this case wore offered for.ths arrest and conviction. The Wellington police performed tiro first portion of the contract, and the Melbourne detective police tiro second portion ; and not without considerable difficulty. They also recovered £OB7 10s, by draff: yet they claimed no portion of the £76, which they might iu all fairness have done. I think the Wellington police have no cause of complaint, as they Wore paid more than they wore equitably entitled to for the service they performed, ns it must bo remembered that without a conviction the rewards need not have been paid. In taking guarantees for rewards, all that the police can do hero is to make them ns explicit os possible, which was done in this case ; and if any person considers that he is entitled to claim the 10 per cent, offered in this case, lie has his remedy at law, and can sue tor it. ' , .... I should bo very sorry to have an application made by any one iu this department under similar circumstances to bo allowed to sue. I beg to draw tho Chief Commissioner’s attention to a portion of Inspector Atchison’s letter of tho ISth

February last, in which he refers to his loss of confidence, &c., and the Cullamore case. His remarks, I think*, are quite uncalled for, as the matter was thoroughly explained at the time ; he also appears to have forgotten writing a letter addressed to the Chief Commissioner of Police, Melbourne, dated Wellington, March 15, ISG9,in which he says—" I have the honor to inform you that on the 7th January last. Alfred Cullamore was arrested hero in consequence of information received from the Detective Office, Melbourne.” This was correct, as direct information had been sent, with photo, of offender, and his paramour well described, so that even‘had the reward been offered merely for the arrest, the Melbourne detectives were entitled to share it with the Wellington police, but as it was distinctly for arrest and con.-rw.-tion, and the case being a most difficult one to prove, I think the Wellington police received as much as not more than their share. Had there been no conviction, the reward could not have been legally claimed. It is most desirable to keep up the friendly relations now existing between the New Zealand and Victorian Police Forces, but at the same time I do not think that such remarks as those made by Inspector Atchison should be allowed to pass unnoticed.—l have, &c., Fkepeutck Secretan, Sub-Inspector in charge.

Offender, George Maurice Drummond. Extracts from Police Gazette. See Police Gazette, January 27, 1574, p. 19. “George Maurice Drummond, charged with embezzlement on the Provincial and Suburban Bank of Richmond. The London Guarantee Society offers and guarantees, through their chairman, Sir George Verdon, the sum of £SO sterling on arrest and conviction of the offender, and 10 per cent, on monies recovered, reducing the claim of the bank upon the society. 0.571 February 3, 1874.” “See Police Gazette, 1874. pp 10 and 24.—George■ Maurice Drummond. The ProvinciaPand Suburban Bank, Limited, guarantees a further reward of £25 for the arrest of this offender. 0,571. February 10, 1874.”