29

H.—l6b.

F. MALLABD.

17. Why do you say that when a man is a detective he should always remain so?— Because it is a separate and distinct branch. 18. Unfortunately nearly all the uniform men hold the same views as you, and I shall endeavour to show the Commission there is no ground for it. Did you join in New Zealand as a constable?— Yes. 19. In what rank did you leave Victoria? —Constable. 1 was (here about seven years. 20. You became Sub-Inspector in time? —Yes; I was always treated as more than a constable. 21. In a very short time? —No; I think in 1871. 22. Your only qualifications were what you learned in Otago and in the water police as constable in Victoria ?—Yes. 23. You consider with those qualifications you were rightly promoted as Sub-Inspector?— 1 must leave that to my superiors; I do not want to blow my own trumpet, 24. I rely principally on the evidence of people like yourself to prove our case to the Commission : I rely on the unconscious prejudice that a long experience in uniform such as you and others have had engenders to do more than I could by pleading our own cause?— Your crossexamination seems a personal one. 25. Do you recognise the Victorian Police Force as being up to date in your day and since .' —I have not followed it. 26. You know they have a real up-to-date and live Force there? —They did not come very well out of the last Royal Commission. 27. Are you aware that out of ten superintendents in Victoria five have passed through the detective department? —Yes. 28. And that the present Chief Commissioner O'Callaghaii never was a constable? —Yes. 29. Do you say, in the face of that experience, it is a wrong system?— What I say is this —there is no feeling in the matter: If the Minister of Justice vacillates in the way he has done, it is not good for discipline of the service. 30. Do you know the Police Force to-day has unbounded confidence in the present Minister of Justice? —I should say so; but you put the Minister over your chief. Mr. Dinnie is your head. The Minister is your political head, and he abrogates the law laid down by Mr. McGowan. Chief Detective Herbert: The Commission will have the experience of Scotland Yard as well as that of Victoria, and there is not a detective in New Zealand to-day who has not had experience in uniform for years. Owen Patrick Brosnan, Porter, examined on oath. (No. 14.) Witness: I come before this Commission to lay complaints against certain members of the Police Force. In taking this step Ido not seek notoriety, nor do I wish to create the impression that I have personal spite or animosity against the police as a whole. As a matter of fact, I have received consideration at certain times from some of the officials. My grievance consists of the treatment accorded me by individual members. Before proceeding, I may say that I have a number of convictions recorded against me which almost make me eligible to be adjudged an habitual criminal, so that in the light of recent events I am almost compelled to adopt this course as a means of facilitating my future reformation, also to receive, if possible, immunity from future unjustifiable acts by the police. After completing a sentence of hard labour I was released on the 9th June last, experiencing the usual difficulty of persons such as I in obtaining employment. I at last succeeded, but took the precaution of acquainting my employer with my past, and started work on the 22nd of the same month. From what Detective Mitchell subsequently told me, a number of robberies were enacted in this city lately. The police were unable to locate the author of these crimes. Although they possessed not one iota of tangible evidence that I had been connected with these affairs, it was thought necessary I should undergo investigation at their hands. On the 2nd of the present month Detective Mitchell visited the house of my parents. My mother, not caring to have tht detective standing outside, invited him into the house. He then stated that I was wanted in connection with robberies at Shearers' and Crown Hotels, and inquired of my whereabouts. My mother told him 1 was at work. He told her I was deceiving her, as he knew for a fact I was not at work, and that I would have to explain my movements to him. Without legal authority he proceeded to search and ransack my room. On leaving he bound my mother over to secrecy concerning his action, saying that if she divulged the fact of his visit, or communicated the fact to me, or visited any member of the family, he would be under the necessity of shadowing her for the rest of the day. Mitchell's next step was, in company with Thompson, to visit my employer with, I positively assert, the object of disclosing my past to him, and probably also having me ousted from work, in which, fortunately, he did not succeed. They would not be content with a private interview with me, but most unnecessarily visited me in the presence of others. He started to cross-question me, and I then got permission to leave my work, with the object of consulting Inspector O'Brien as to the legality of their action. Mitchell prevented me from doing this of my own free will, and took me into custody. On the way to the station I told him what I thought of his action, and said if he required any information respecting my movements I was quite willing to supply him with the same if he cared to see me apart from my work. Arriving at the police-station I was not allowed to see the Inspector, but was escorted to the detective office at once and searched, they reading my private letters. I was then asked to give an account of my movements on the previous Saturday, and also the day before—the Ist July. Happily I was able to account for every moment of time. Had I not beeti able to do so I should, probably have been in the unenviable position of other persons who have found themselves unable to establish the fact of their whereabouts, and if an unscrupulous official has charge of a case he does not hesitate to adopt unprincipled methods in the sometimes falsely called interests of justice. Mitchell instructed Thompson to ring up the Crown Hotel, and send a person down