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Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 80, 11 August 1863, Page 2

It is not uncommon, in the deeper hours of the night, amongst the more lonely streets of London., for the ordinary stillness to be broken by such cries as /'Murder!" "Help!" "Police!" and it has often been the subject of severe comment that similar cries have passed unheeded — that he or she by whom they were uttered has been garotted and robbed, whilst the natural rescuer, A. 21, has been calmly improving- his mind with instructive conversation down an adjacent area. It was by too threat devotedness to the "intellectual"i n this form, on the part of A. 21, and his brethren, that the metropolis was recently overrun by that army of garotters which enjoyed the endearing soubriquet, derived from th< Trail-known convict philanthropist, < f "Sir Joshua Webb's Pets." It was partly by this laxity of discipline, thai London by night became as unsafe as was Hounslow Heath in the days of those highwaymen whose biographers made them heroes. An insufficient and inefficient police permitted crime to stalk abroad secure ; and no elderly gentleman vas safe, as lie sauntered home from his club after dusk. Naturally and justly, the public became indignant — they had paid heavily for the protection of life and property ; but for all that, there was neither order nor protection. Angry agitation and complaint were at once the result. There were violent letters in every newspaper, and each issue contained a leader upon the police, of the description known as " the witherer. 1 ' The consequence was reformation — the discipline of the force was made more rigid and -Its strength added to. There followed a cessation of all cause for alarm; and every honest citizen said, as he stowed away his revolver in his attic, " what, a blessing it is to have an effective police." It is not, however, our present purpose to review the history of civic protection in London. Taking leave of Sir Joshua Webb and our illustration, we echo the cry — " What a blessing it is to have an effective police !" — a benefit that is now happily realised in this Province in the existing well organised force. And yet we have heard of some who were so unwise as to complain of the cost entailed upon the public by this establishment. But these, it is well to remember, are the few, who have laid out for themselves as their chief mia.sion in life, the picking of holes in the coats of the many. It was all very well a few years ago, when this Province was part of Otago, when its resources were few, and its population to be counted in hundreds, that the whole o( Southland should be patrolled by a solitary policeman. There were no goidfields, and few temptations to crime. Times are changed, and now that there are many valuable interests to be protected, a single officer would be about as useful for the preservation of the peace, as a single vessel for the require merits of our commerce. And so the Government have found it necessary from time to time to add to the Police foree — not hurriedly — not with a rush, but in a gradation proportioned to the growth of the Province. At the present time the police force of Southland numbers thirty-seven, and an Inspector. Twenty-one are foot constables, eight are mounted, and there are eight sergeants and oue storekeeper

to Che force, who also acts as Inspector's Gljsrk.; These, are distributed in the following manner- over the vince : twenty >two including four sergeants, stationed at Invercargill, and the rest portioned out over the various stations of lliverton, Campbell town, Winton, Dacre, Elbow, Ilockanui, and Rdgers'. In addition, there are two detectives whose headquarters are in Invercargill. Over the whole of this force is placed Mr Inspector Weldon, to whose extensive experience and excellent tact for organization, is due its now highly effective discipline. Though but comparatively a new comer, this gentleman has, within a few months, done the work of a year. The crude beginnings of a peace force, have by him been worked up into a complete whole, in a manner surprising to all but those acquainted with his services in Otago and Victoria. He has made of the police force ofSouthland a service highlj' creditable to the Province and to the Govern- | ment — a department which can well be placed side by side with the sister ' establishment in Otago — a department which ought at the first meeting of the Provincial Council, to be created really and truly a department with a Commissioner at its head. In Otago the Police is a Provincial Government department, presided over by a Commissioner, and the chief officer of the Southland police force is entitled to a shnilar rank. But these are matters more within the province of his Honor the Superintendent and the Executive than the journalist, and as such we will leave them. Meantime, there can be no doubt that the force, both numerically and in the matter of discipline, amply meets the requirements of the Province at present ; but it is quite possible that to-morrow m.»y bring forth circumstances, such as the discovery of a goldfield, or extensive rushes from Victoria, which would render its present strength completely inadequate. These circumstances should be taken into consideration in October, by the Council, when the estimates are brought forward. No spirit of ill-advised parsimony, or an economy certain to turn out in the end no economy at all, should be suffered to interfere with the development of a branch of the State so essential to good Lovernment and social agreement. If Southland is to be no Alsatia, but. rather a Province noted for its ample civil protection, its police administration should not be provided for with a nigsardly hand. The first thing which strikes the eye of the stranger in Invercargill is the highly creditable appearance arid the visible efficiency of the force. That such a , status shall be preserved, and that this Province shall not become as London in the days of garotters, depends entirely upon our Provincial legislators ; with them, too, rests the power of keeping the black calendar — to use a paradox — as white as at the last sitting of the Supreme Court. Let them, then, bear in mind that if they are liberal, the future will repay them ; if the reverse, that their rewaid will be a repetition of the disgraceful see les recently enacted in New South Wales.