DIFFERENT NOW

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 148, 25 June 1934, Page 16

DIFFERENT NOW

AUSTRALIAN POLICE

THE BUSHRANGING DAYS

DISREPUTABLE FORCE

The present controversy concerning tho banning of a bushranging film, principally on the ground that it holds up tho police of tho period to scorn and .ridicule, reminds its that, although tho police of our "bushrauging day?" may not have lacked courage, their standard was very different from that of today, writes Joyca Cocks in the "Sydney Morning Herald.,?' Over-most of the civilised world during the last century there has 130011 a great stride forward in,police administration. Even tho farfamed Metropolitan police force of London only fame mto existence \inder Sir Bobert Peel ia 1829. The fuU history of tho New South AVales police has yet to .be written. - The -first Police Department was established by Governor Macquarie in 1810, although fourteen years previously Captain Hunter had - issued "Instructions for Watchmen of the Town'-' and "Of the Country," which-are the two first known examples of Australian printing. • In 1822 Commissioner Bigge, reporting upon, the state of the Police Department, said: "Tho first establishment in 1810 consisted of a 'superintendent, an assistant, five district constables, and forty-five petty constables. . . . For a long period*the.district constables were entitled-only to £10 per annum, slop clothing, a ration £nd a -half, with ration for their families per day, and an occasional-issue-of spirits." Bigge recommended, however, that each district constable should receive £20 per annum, with-a w'eekly ration of seven pounds of meat and seven pounds of flour; Kegulations also provided that "a Remuneration of £5 should be given to any person prosecuting to conviction felons that commit burglary or highway robbery," and the records show that > constables were active in, securing, for themselves such rewards. "NOT" RESPECTABLE.'' . Police pay was a vexed question. Year after yea.r the Government proved a most dilatory paymaster. In 1828 we find the following paragraph in the Press: "The old complaint,, the constables can get no pay, they are greatly 1 narrears. We fear wo shall have to revert to this circumstance till such time as a punctual compliance be enforced, that the constables shall be paid every fortnight. ... It.is quite enough, in all conscience, to keep the constables on half a loaf, and not to give it when their lank ja.ws stare with, hunger!" A leading article in the "Australian" of 1841, states: "No really respectable man can, when the prices of the necessities of life -in -Sydney are borne in mind,, exist upon the very small wages which aro paid by the Government to the towaconstabulary." The consequence is that' the great -proportion ■of this force consists of, men= who are not respectable persons, and, secondly, that they are driven to eke out their weekly earnings'by" false swearing." We would, in common-charity, lay this crime at the doors, not of- tho individuals themselves, but of* the system which offers a premium upon perjury." This pernicious method of underpaying tho police whilst permitting them to supplement their scanty incomes from fines and rewards for information continued for very many years. Indeed, it was only during the present Parliament that a Bill was brought down by the Minister ■ for Justice and passed which finally, and one hopes for ever, excludes informants^ from participating in rewards as informers unless tho presiding Magistrate so directs. » That the. standards governing the "niceties" of police conduct have altered, in. a century this Press complaint of June, 1840, illustrates. "We again draw attention to the disgusting brutality - exercised by \ the > constabulary on the dog-killing crusade. Th& - savage manner in which they exercise this part of their'duty is done without-regard to any considerations |of 'decency and humanity. The dbg is seized, his brain dashed oilt;~and 'often before' the animal is dead his-tail cut off, without regard to the'ladies or others "who may happen to be passing or resident on the spot." BY THEIR HATS. One of the difficulties experienced by citizens in the first half of last century was in recognising the police when they saw them, so Superintendent Miles, whp.appears to havo instituted many reforms, ordered special police _ hats in 1841. These were "painted to describe '.division and number." Tho larrikins., of „ the ..town .promptly nicknamed them, the, "Bound Hats," and this seems •to have been, resented, as "The Australian" prints the following: "It is the desire of that most respectable body (the police) that it should be extensively circulated -through the medium of the P'ress'that these (Eound Hata) are no other than patent japanned felt, combining every recent improvement." Superintendent Miles made a determined stand against drunkenness, and enforced'the rule'-that publicans should be fined £5 if 'they served constables whilst on duty. On October 10, 1841, he issued ten orders for the guidance of the. force, ana that he aimed high is shown by number six, which reads: 'A constable is to remember that loss of temper will be loss of-place." • - The bushranging menace became very active in the thirties and forties, and, although the Sydney "Herald" and other papers are full of complaints of tho settlers, the scattered nature of the population and the" great tracts of unknown bush country made their apprehension extremely difficult. Also men of the Kelly type developed, who 1 displayed unusual intelligence* and ingenuity in their depredations. Under the Governorship of Sir George Gipps abuse of the administration of the police was' particularly bitter, but some startling statistics which appeared in the "Herald'' of March, 1844,. show that, whatever their faults, -the police were not-- lazy. Their total strength for 1843 was 88 in a population of 30,000, and tho number of apprehensions was 8662 per annum, which is an average of 98 apprehensions per policeman. In 1932 .the figures as.given in the. annual report, credit each policeman with ,an average. of ; -32 "victims:" The statistics .^showing the relative crime ■in 1843 and 1932 are staggering indeed, as then the proportion of apprehensions was 284 per. thousand of population, whilst now it is 46. Considering that ; ninety years ago one in every three and a half Ipersons was a law-breaker, our record of orderliness today seems a remarkable 'achievement.; ... . WORLD ,'FALIOTJS. A Frenchman,, writing -.recently, said that ■'■' the New South Wales finger-print system, and police ,'habit'of catching crimihals\was becoming nearly as famous as tho'Sydney'Harbour Bridge," and lately Bench, Bar, and public have all united,-in well-merited, praise for brilliant! detective-work.- -Perhaps, however,.the. greatest;tribute to ihe police :■; came frorn^ a Bedfern citizen, who said, • "One has ttrlb'e very'.poor to know just how fine the police can be." But travellers returning from .London cannot/' be blamed for making comparisons between the manners of the traffic police of London and Sydney. Although.the great ~.majority:.qi:,our,own:me9,ar;e'v ery, good, indeed, some still have greater courtesy

to learn and some hectoring habits to forget. The London police simply exude politeness and kindness as well as efficiency, whilst in moments of stress their humour seems unfailing. "The little more and how much it is" was illustrated in Martin Place at dawn on Anzac Day a few weeks ago. Two police sergeants wero on' duty at the Cenotaph. An old lady asked one about a certain, wreath, and received a rather curt reply. A Cockney standing by said: '.'Ask tho cove on the other side, lidy, 'ce 'as a 'eart W 'as.' • This sergeant's smilo and readiness to oblige showed the wisdom of the advice. The Prince will be here soon, and the capability of tho police force tested to tho full in its handling of the crowds thronging to see him. His procession through our streets will be the "people's day out," and their comfort and pleasure will not a little depend on whether to tho efficiency of the police, on which we have come to rely, is added, in tho words- of tho Cockney—"a heart." )