31

H.—2

252. Mr. Taylor.] And were subsequently taken into the Police Force ?—One is in the police now. The other is still in the militia. 253. The Chairman.] Where did Constable Nixon come from?—He was not in the Permanent Artillery, he was taken on direct from the outside. 254. Mr. Poynton.] What date was that?— The 14th April, 1896. He was recommended by Mr. Lawry, M.H.E. for Parnell, by Mr. Seymour Thorne George, and by Mr. Duthie, manager of the National Bank of New Zealand, all at Auckland; and on his application he showed his trade as that of " casual canvasser." He is still in the Force as plain-clothes constable at Wellington. Colonel Hume : Yesterday, Sir, I was asked to produce some papers. I have here Circular No. 4 of the 14th April, 1887, in reference to the goldfields' allowance being abolished, and doing away with long-service pay. The approval is dated the 12th February, 1887. 255. Mr. Poynton.] Who was the Minister?— Hon. John Ballance. This circular is in the handwriting of Major Gudgeon, who afterwards signed it when sending it round the Force. It is as follows :— (Draft Circular for approval.) Fkom and after the 10th February, 1887, men joining the Police Force will not be entitled to receive long-service pay whether by virtue of previous service in the Armed Constabulary Force and Permanent Militia or of subsequent service in the Police Force ; but this regulation shall not affect the rights of any member of the Force who joined before the 10th February, 1887. Members of the Force transferred to the Lake and goldfields districts from and after the 10th February, 1887, will not be entitled to receive the goldfields allowance heretofore granted ; but the rights of those already stationed in those districts will not be affected by this regulation. Approved.—J.B. 12/2/87. The next paper I was asked to produce was in reference to the examinations being done away with. I take the whole responsibility of that order, and I think I gave the Commissioners to understand why I did away with the examinations. I did not ask the Minister to do it, but did it on my own responsibility altogether. However, I showed to the Minister the report of the examiner, who was very anxious that it should be published in the papers. I was not, however; and I took the report to the Minister, and we decided it was not to be published. I will read it to the Commission, as it has a good deal to do with my decision to do away with the examinations. It is as follows :— Sib,— Oamaru, sth July, 1890. I have the honour to forward herewith attached a list of successful candidates at the junior police examination on the 17th day of June, 1890, and to add a general report, with a few criticisms on the papers, in the hope that they will encourage the members of the Force to persevere in this undoubtedly most useful work, which compels them to acquaint themselves with all the details of their duties, responsibilities, powers, and privileges, besides better educating them to approach the high standard raised by the code, which requires the constabulary to consist of welleducated, intelligent, truthful, honest men, as guardians of our peace and our laws ; to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves ; to protect the weak, unfortunate, and destitute ; to encourage those trying to reform, who should be physically and mentally strong to do right, and terrors to evildoers who persist in crime. I am confident that the police regulations and Acts relating to crime, and duties devolving on the police, have been more studied during the last twelve months than for many years past; but I would strongly recommend—and I speak from experience—that side by side with the theoretical the practical knowledge of discipline be maintained by parades and drill, so easily to be acquired, as there are drill-instructors residing in nearly every town in New Zealand, whose services could be obtained at a very little cost compared with the advantages to be gained. There are other essentials to maintain the high character of this splendid and most useful body of men—viz., to be deprived of the franchise and disconnected altogether from political influence ; to be well-paid, from Bs. per day and upwards, and, as promotion is slow, let time count for increase in pay, so that first-class constables may not weary for the retirement of sergeants; and, above all, have a pension-fund, to be contributed to by the men, and largely subsidised by the Government; and with forced retirement at fifty-five years of age from active service to.the pension list. With these advantages and inducements to aspirants stricter discipline might be introduced, and breaches of Rule No. 54, et ejusdem generis, be severely punished. Nearly one hundred candidates passed before me in review this year, and I am of opinion that at least one-fourth of them are eligible for the rank of Inspectors and to be on the Commission of the Peace, and half to be non-commissioned officers. During the present examination there are thirty-two good writers and spellers, and of these six very good penmen, but some of the ordinary writers are, nevertheless, well-educated men. On saluting : Very few have obtained more than half marks for this question, and one candidate suggests there is no information in the books about the rank and uniform of officers of the navy and army; but he forgets when making this excuse that the Commissioner of Police, having made the rules, requires the constables to acquaint themselves with the necessary particulars ; and for the edification of the candidates I may mention that the lowest ranked executive commissioned officer in the Royal navy entitled to a salute from a constable, and, a fortiori, from his own men, is a sub-lieutenant, who wears Jin. gold stripe, with a loop round the cuff of his sleeve, and those officers who have stripes without loops belong to the civil branches of the navy; and that as the rank of ensign has disappeared from the army, the lowest ranked executive commissioned officer entitled to a salute is a second lieutenant, who is known by a star on the shoulder-knot of his full dress and on the lappel of his undress. Question No. 8 on the first paper, which carried the highest marks of any, has been creditably answered by a majority; but about No. 11, which is an equally important question, there have been varied opinions. One candidate, while admitting a telegram to be insufficient, stated, if in Bradshaw's place, he would engage a friend to assault the alleged offender, and then arrest both for committing a breach of the peace ; but he does not explain how he would extricate his friend from the consequences afterwards. All the candidates appear familiar with the duties in Question No. 13 of the first paper. In the second paper some of the questions have been slightly misapprehended, especially No. 13, and one or two candidates have inferentially hinted I have travelled outside the books with my question, but they may disabuse their minds of any such suspicion by reading page 168 of Johnston's " Justice of the Peace," for I have used the words given by the author in such a manner as to try to catch the candidates' memory if he had read paragraph No. 528. Question No. 9, second paper, is the most difficult one presented, and has been really splendidly answered by twenty-three, and fairly well by seven candidates. Trifling errors: Under this head I would remind one candidate that conciseness with sense is a good quality, but when without sense, and descending to flippancy, it is objectionable. The spelling of the word " separately " has sorely puzzled not a few, for twelve candidates have spelt it " seperately," one " separetly," one " sepratly," and another " sipperatly." To their credit, be it said, nine candidates cited the case of Galliard v. Laxton correctly, and two partly so. One is indebted to his knowledge of the case for his escape from failure. Alexander Cruickshank, H. P. Rasmussen, E. P. Bird, and Daniel O'Rourko have answered the questions very evenly and creditably ; but Rasmussen, of these, is the only one who knew Galliard v. Laxton. Notwithstanding the hard labours, mentally and physically, in the duties of examiner, there is much pleasure in assisting such a really good set of fellows in their efforts to improve themselves, mingled with regret in being obliged to reject others, some of whom appeared to have struggled bravely to grasp the subiect. Those who have passed will have the satisfaction of knowing that they have succeeded by merit only—the result of study. I conclude by resigning my position as examiner, and with regret; but the work interferes with my other duties, hence my decision. But before subscribing my name, I beg to recommend for your most favourable consideration that Alexander