H.—l6

5

The detectives should also advance from their present minimum to their present maximum by increments of 6d. a day every three years. Constables who are temporarily employed in plain clothes as assistant detectives, and constables or sergeants who are employed as clerks, and who are, of course, of superior education, with very responsible duties, extending over very long hours, to perform, should receive an allowance of Is. a day as long as they are so employed. On the Ist February, 1895, my predecessor, with a view of introducing a system of increments versus classes, received permission to reduce the pay of all men joining the Force after that date from 7s. a day to £10 a month, and all men who have joined since that date are now receiving the latter rate of pay. The object for which this reduction was made has long since been abandoned ; and as the retention of this reduced rate only causes dissatisfaction, I recommend that, on and after the Ist proximo, the old rate be reverted to, both as regards the men now receiving £10 a month and to men joining the service after that date, as provided for in the estimates. I may say that the new scale of pay I have suggested for the whole Force will not be affected in the least by the adoption of the above suggestion. Unifobm. I recommend that the men be found their uniform free of cost, which is the practice in almost every Force that I am acquainted with. The cost to the constable for uniform is very considerable, and the present system leads to a want of uniformity in pattern, as tailors in various parts of the colony are employed to make up the uniforms. I also think the jumper should have a military collar with the number of the constable on each side thereof, instead of the numerals being in the shako as at present. The numbers should also run consecutively throughout the whole colony instead of by districts as at present. The practice of men wearing white gloves when on ordinary duty should, in my opinion, be discontinued. These gloves can remain a part of the uniform as laid down by the Police Eegulations, but should only be worn when the men are engaged in connection with some public ceremony or on like occasions. Lodging Allowance. At present the Inspectors and sergeants are granted a lodging allowance if unprovided with free quarters. All single constables and all men in charge of stations are also provided with free quarters; the only men who at present have to provide their own lodgings are the married men not in charge of stations. As this causes a great deal of dissatisfaction, I recommend that all men of over three years' service unprovided with free quarters be granted an allowance of Is. a day in lieu thereof. There are not many men who would come under this regulation, therefore it would not be a very serious item of expenditure. Pensions and Geatuities. At present there are in the Force many officers and men who, owing to old age and bodily infirmity, are entirely unfit for active police work, but, owing to the want of a pension system, these men are retained in the service to the prejudice thereof. According to the present arrangements, when a man is returned as unfit for further service he, if a constable or sergeant, is invariably granted a compassionate allowance of one year's pay. If an Inspector the compassionate allowance is, I understand, at the rate of one month's pay for each year's service. At present there are in the Force five Inspectors, seven sergeants, and five constables over sixty years of age, and in addition there are one Inspector, seven sergeants, and nineteen constables between fifty-five and sixty years of age. Besides those I have named there are several who have prematurely broken down in health. To make the Force efficient the majority of those above referred to, especially sergeants and constables, should be retired forthwith, but it would be a cruelty to throw those men upon the world with one year's pay. In my opinion a pension system could be started and maintained by the following payments being made into a pension fund : (1) 4 per cent, per annum to be deducted from each man's pay; (2) all fines and penalties imposed under the Acts relating to the sale of intoxicating liquors, the gaming laws, and Police Offences Act; (3) all fines inflicted on, and stoppages from the pay of, constables; (4) the amount at present standing to the credit of the police reward fund; (5) all salaries and emoluments, or a portion thereof, received by constables in connection with the offices they hold outside that of constable ; (6) all Government departments for which the police at present perform work gratuitously to contribute an annual sum to the pension fund commensurate with the work performed by the police ; and (7) the Government to pay to the pension fund, on the retirement of any constable, a sum equal to the amount now paid in the way of compassionate allowance. The scale of pensions and gratuities I recommend is as follows: Any constable with not less than five years' service or more than fifteen years' service, if compelled to retire from the service through ill-health, shall receive a gratuity of one month's pay for each year's service completed, but in no case is the amount so paid to exceed twelve months' pay. Any constable who has completed fifteen years' service to receive a pension at the rate of one-fiftieth of his pay for each year's service completed up to thirty years' service, but no matter how long he may remain in the service he shall not increase his pension beyond three-fifths of his pay. The pension or gratuity to be based on the amount of pay received at the time of retirement, unless the constable shall within five years prior to his retirement have served in any rank beneath the rank held by him at the time of his retirement, in which case the pension or gratuity shall be based on the average amount of pay received during the last seven years of his service. Any constable who has not completed less than twenty-five years' service, and who shall not be under fifty-five years of age, shall be allowed to retire on the pension due to him at the time of his retirement without being returned medically unfit,