New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 1877.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5129, 31 August 1877, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 1877.

Three Bills, which may be described as measures of police, viz., the Misdemeanants and other Offenders Act, the Destitute Persons Relief Act, and the New Zealand Constabulary Act, have been prepared by the Government, and are now before the Assembly. The first purports by means of the telegraph wire to lengthen and strengthen the arm of the law in the matter of the arrest of offenders. The days of the ‘ ‘ ancient and most quiet watchman” are past, and no modern Dogberry would dare to avow “ that the most peaceable way, if you do taken thief, is to let him show himself what he is andstealoutof your company.” Onthecontrary, the normal condition of the “bobby” mind to-day is often one. of cynical no confidence, with a general inclination to “ run in ” all mankind by way of precaution. By the common law a constable is empowered to arrest, without warrant, “persons committing or who have committed or are suspected to have committed or to be about to commit a felony.” But the same authority does not extend to the class of crimes known as misdemeanors; no arrest for such crimes can be made without a warrant, which warrant must be at the moment actually in the possession' of the arresting person. The line which divides the felony from the misdemeanor, if it be supposed to bo marked by the punishment, is very indefinite. Some misdemeanors are punished more severely than some felonies, and we cannot better illustrate the incongruity of the existing system than by borrowing a quotation from an article in the November number of the “ New Zealand Justice of the Peace” on the law of arrest;— “Any one who has obtained a drove of oxen or a flock of sheep by false pretences may go quietly on his way and no one—not oven a peace officer—can apprehend'him without a warrant; but if a man offer to sell any person a bit of a dead fence supposed to have been stolen, he not only may, but is required to be apprehended by that person.” The new Act proposes to give to any constable the same power of arresting offenders in cases of misdemeanor as the common law gives in oases of felony. Clause 4 provides as follows : Whenever in offences punishable on summary conviction a warrant for the apprehension of the person charged with the oltence so punishable, or a warrant or order for the committal of any person convicted ofany such offence, shall have been issued,, and in all cases where a warrant or order shall hove been Issued for the committal of any person for default in payment of any sura recoverable summarily before a Resident Magistrate; otherwise than under the Resident Magistrates Act, 1807, and in all cases where an order for the committal of any person under the Imprisonment for Debt Abolition Act, 1874, shall have been issued, a copy of such warrant, or order by telegram or otherwise, may be transmitted by one chief officer of police to another chief officer of police. ~ The mode of transmission of the warrant by telegraph is carefully prescribed, and the most stringent provision is made for the punishment of any persons who forge or fraudulently alter or use any such warrant op order. ■ The Destitute Persons Relief Act is an .extension of the Ordinance of ‘ the Lieut.-Governor and Legislative Council passed in 1846. It defines a “destitute person ” to be a person unable to support himself or herself by his or her own means or labor; and it

enacts that the “ near relative”, of such person, having sufficient ability so to do, may be compelled to contribute to his or her support. A “near relative ”is held to mean a father, stepfather, grandfather, mother, stepmother, grandmother, children (other than stepchildren), and brother. It was gravely -proposed in the Legislative Council to add the word “ uncle ” to-this category ; but upon consideration that it was to this relative that distressed persons usually had recourse in the first instance, and that his well-known benevolence was already regulated by strict law, the proposed amendment was not pressed. Provision is made in various modes for securing the means of support for illegitimate children, for preventing the desertion of women by their husbands, or of children by their parents ; and generally power is given to punish those persons who are disposed wilfully to relieve themselves of their natural obligations for the purpose of throwing the burden of supporting their families .upon the State, and to compel them to do their duty if they have the means. The Act is a stringent one, but not more so apparently than is necessary to cope with a growing evil. The provision of the law before mentioned for effecting arrests by telegraphed warrants will be found greatly to aid in carrying out this law. Up to the Ist July, as our readers know, each province had its own police force enrolled, in some cases under local Acts, in others under the old Constabulary Ordinance of the Legislative Council. There was besides the force of Armed Constabulary enrolled under the Armed Constabulary Act of 186?, and numbering about 600 men. In the province of Auckland alone the local police force formed part of the colonial force, and were enrolled under the same law, the pay of the men being in great part furnished from the provincial chest. Since the Ist of July the whole of the police forces of the provincial districts have been enrolled under the Act above mentioned, and there is now but one body of police for the whole colony. Of this force one portion is called thejreservo, and consist of about 350 men. These are distributed in detachments of 70 or 80 in Waikato, the Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay, and Taranaki, with a depot at Wellington. The other portion form the police of the several provincial districts. The whole will number about 800 men. The pay, which varied greatly in the provinces, has been brought to a standard—seven shillings per diem for constables of the lowest rank, excepting those of the reserve, where the pay remains as it was, at six shillings. By means of this consolidation of the forces a considerable reduction in the number of men employed has been effected, not only without. impairing the efficiency of the force as a whole, but, as we think, greatly adding to that efficiency, whilst a saving in expenditure has been made amounting to more than thirty thousand pounds a year. The police throughout the colony are now, and have been since the Ist of July, as we said, enrolled under the Armed Constabulary Act of 1867 and the Amendment Act of 1869. The object of the Bill, which has passed the Legislative Council, and •is now before the House of Representatives, is to amend that law and adapt it to the altered circumstances. It proposes first that the title of the force shall be changed, that the word “armed ” shall be dropped, and that it shall be known as the “ New Zealand Constabulary.” It does not, for the most part, differ materially from the Acts last-mentioned, excepting in having some new provisions for the internal discipline of the force, all of which we understand were discussed and agreed upon at a meeting of the chief officers from the several provincial districts hold at Wellington a few months since. But important additions have been made with a view to rendering the force more attractive to good men, and giving prospective advantage for long service. The provisions of the Military Pensions Act, 1866, are applied to the constabulary, and it is enacted that the pensions and allowances granted by that Act shall be payable to members of the force, whether the wounds or injuries therein referred to be received in action or in the performance of civil duty. Moreover, it enacts that whenever the services of any member of the constabulary shall be dispensed with, except on account of misconduct, or whenever age, ill health, or accident incapacitate a man from duty, he shall, if the ill health or accident be not the result of his own fault, be entitled to a retiring allowance in money of one month’s pay for each year of service, and that time served in any provincial force shall for this purpose be allowed to be reckoned for all those who have recently been enrolled in the colonial constabulary. These are substantial inducements and advantages, and it is not surprising that on the Ist of July all the men of the provincial forces, with very few exceptions, enrolled themselves, and accepted service under the new conditions of pay and advantages offered to them. Here and there, as might have been expected, there have been cases of individual loss of pay or pickings, and we hear of grievances, but they cannot, we think, be severe, and except in the hotbed of the session, would probably not have attained visible proportions. The amalgamation has been effected apparently with smoothness and ease. A large annual saving has been effected of, as we. have said, more than £30,000, whilst we have a force available for any emergency, upon which reliance may be placed. The men. are already, we repeat, enrolled under the Armed Constabulary Acta of 1867 and 1869. The new Bill purports to confer upon them substantial advantages in the way of pensions and retiring allowances which they do not now possess, and it is to be hoped that, having some weeks since passed the Legislative Council, it will in due time receive the fiat of the representatives of the people.