POLICE COMMISSION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 143, 14 July 1909, Page 2

POLICE COMMISSION.

INTERESTING EVIDENCE. By Telegraph—Prens Association. Dunedin, last Night. The Police Commission resumed its sitting here this morning. Evidence was i»':vcn by ex-Constable William Walker, of Invercargill, who had been ia the police in Britain, and, between 1878 ana 1903, had seen service in Dunedin am other .places. From wlmt lie had heard political anil private influence was on the increase in regard to members' ot Hie force, who thought that unless tH-i iwd a pull Oil the Commissioner they would not pet promotion. He though the Department should be controlled bj wine strong man. lie suggested Mr. J. \V Poynton, l'nhlie Trustee, or Inspector' Mitchell (Invercargill).' Hu suggested that Inspector Tunbridge be re-called 'and the Department here be made to resemble that model of every pohc. fo.ee, the Irish Constabulary. Xhe police were insufficiently paid, and na» wrong methods of detecting sly-gro„ selling. Candidates for the force should •■•e dili'erently selected. Witness was severely cross-examined \,v Mr. Bishop and Inspector Dinnic, but he stuck to his statements, tte alleged that there wits too much influence » this matter of promotion. Men would not come forward to give evidence because the,' were afraid it would pre iudicc their chances of promotion, and they must get evidence to make a report of any use. 1 Frederick Mallard, ,«C • Inspector, strongly opposed to the l" 0 . 1 "to of plain clothes men l» ; high position in the ,mlf .° imL '} branch, and believed this alteration the rules of the Department was made for political .purposes and political P« s in all the police departments. He himself retired owing to pblitical influence. Under cross-examination, witness adhered firmly to the opinion that the chief detective should not become eubinspector or inspector. The next witness was SeTgt. Higgins, rtationed at Lawrence, who said the force was well organised now, the control effective and that the men for the

force were not selected haphazard. He thought no man under 45 should be a sergeant. He considered detectives had a right to promotion to inspectorship. Sergt. O'Brien, in charge of the Dunedin district, said he was voicing the feeling of the force throughout New Zealand in saying that everyone had complcte confidence in the present Minister ' for Justice. He thought it fair to the present Commissioner of Police to tell ' him that there was a genual impression [ amounting to a feeling of unrest pre- ; vailing amongst members of the force—- ' he might say, from the extreme north ') to the extreme south—that the Com- • mlrt.-'.i-ii. r of Police had stationed in each ' centre some member of- the service hij.vii '..- i-hc : "USEFUL MAN," That man's chief function was to con- '' v C y to the Commissioner through some \ channel or another the names of the members of the force who spoke in ' praise or dispraise of him. Witness ' knew nothing of such an appointment s himself. Witness would not say there '> was one word of truth in it, but it was '" only fair to the Commissioner that s he should have an opportunity to deny '! it on oath. For some reason there had ; ' been little promotion in the Obagodis-

triet in recent years, although he had recommended such. He thought it desirable in the interests of the service that tlie Commissioner should take more notice and give more effect to the recommendations of his district inspector's. Transfers should be made if the

inspector recommended them, and i" ninking appointments of constables to no-license districts the inspector should have nil absolute choice. In the niiitter of recruiting, the inspector should he allowed to enrol a good man in his district when lie saw ouc, without there being any necessity for a recruit to go to Wellington and present lumself for enrolment. He thought it highly necessary to offer more inducements to a better class of young man to join the service. The pay to the constable joining the service at present was too low. The house allowance of 7s a week was 1 far too little for a constuble who had to live in a city. A constable, should have added to his free list of uniform he was receiving one pair of boots per annum. At present no boots were supplied with the uniforms. He thought sergeants should have an equal advance in pay and Their house allowance in- . creased to 14s per week. He thought f lie time had arrived when the chief detective should attain the rank of subinspector. The number of defaulters from other districts in the Dominion sent to this district in the last four or live years had occasioned witness great surprise, so much so that he had begun to look upon the Dunedin district as a common dumping ground for defaulters. On the other hand, he had his defaulters, but his defaulters in about nine cases out of ten were left with him. He had liSO" a constable sent to him not long ago whose defaulters' sheet gave witness much concern. It was anything but creditable to the man, and the thought arose, why was this man not discharged from the service in the distnee whence he came? The inspector expressed disagreement with the mode o! recruiting constables, and said a man had been sent to him from the depot whom he could not recommend to a chimney-sweep, his physique and intelligence being deplorably weak. The apportioning of awards for special convictions, such as sly-grog selling, also gave dissatisfaction. A HEATED DEBATE then took place botween Commissioner Dinnie and Inspector O'Brien with reference to the evidence given .by the former at Wellington before the previous commission, the Inspector contending that Mr. Dinnie acted unfairly' :n making sweeping charges when neither inspector nor sub-inspector lad the opportunity to reply. H e contended such evidence should have been eiveu here,

I 1&ll0 P siW if the previous coin- ■ mission linJ been aware that Mr. Dinnie was going to make statements rcflectfci" |on ollim-s, evidence would lwve been I taken to the districts where the ofiiceis were Notliinjr of the kind would occur on tins oeciHiOii. A discussion took place conceniiii" the men recommended by inspeeto? OBncn tor promotion, but who had not "been promoted. Reference was also made to the cam- of a man promoted by the ex-Minister tor Justice, against Conlmiss.oner fu,(bridge's wishes, and in fP "/ Mr - Umnie's protest. The question of promotion „f district clerks a{er ten .years service was .ho referred u'(i„i I 1 ~ ,ls 'o|) said that -aspect c^iir 0 eo " sidtr,!ti b *«» ' lho -will sit again tomorrow.. a " lu