NO SUBVERSION OF DISCIPLINE

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 108, 7 May 1913, Page 7

NO SUBVERSION OF DISCIPLINE

I PURELY" DEFENCE ASSOCIATION. THE ORGANISER EXPLAINS. - Mr Rosser, when interviewed on the Minister's statement, said that he was quite easy in his own mind as to hie position -in the matter. "1 have not iheen au agitator among the men," he said, '"to sow seeds of discontent. The seeds have been sown for some time back, and I had nothing to do with it. This is the harvest, not the seed-sowing. The force is seething with discontent, not inerelyin Auckland, but throng-bout the Do- ' minion.

Continuing, Mr Rosser made it quite clear that the Police Association was purely one for defence, and was not in any way a body that would be concerned in industrial turmoil, ll was recognised that the police stood for law and order; all Labour officials appreciated that clearly, and personally he would not lend himself to a movement antagonistic to such a principle. In New South Wales there was a Police Association that was recognised by the Government, and was on _c same basis as any similar association of post and telegraph men or of railway men.

Commenting on one or two points in connection with the Association, Mr Rosser remarked that advertisements had been inserted in leading Irish papers asking for men for the New Zealand Police "Foree —"Royal Irkh Constabulary preferred." Same of those men, who had come to New Zealand reported that grievances existing in New Zealand did not exist in the Irish Constabulary. The conditions in New Zealand were more etrJngeirt than in the fax-famed Royal Irish Cawtehvaary. As advJßor in. A___ of the : men, Mr "__r -was confident thait he .had not committed any 'breach of the law. He had, in fact, been a restraining, not _ tooendkry, i__n_ _ * proof

of the justice of the men's claims many of the things complained of had already been remedied. The men did not complain 6o__uch of the regulations as of the administration, and the Commissioner had recognised the force of their contentions by remedying grievances. It was true that there had been an increase in the expenditure on the force, but that benefit had not come to the rank and file. Four new positions, at good salaries, had been created, but these had naturally gone to the higher officers. Not only the junior men, Mr Rosser explained, but the oVdeT men and tho married men, were also members of the association. The association, he pointed out, was already formed, not merely proposed to be formed. In Auckland only three rrfusato had been received. There was no such thing as subversion of discipline, and for that reason only constables were eligible to join. The "formation of a branch m Dunedin was now under way, under the guidance of one of the most prominent labour leaders in Dunedin, or even in New Zealand. • •

'"It is recognised," he remarked in conclusion, "that the first member of the •force to move in such a matter takes a big risk, and for that reason men of independent position, co far as the Department is concerned, are acting in each centre as .buffers between the men and the heads of the Department. The formation of the Association is not a political move. Neither is it intended to act in concert with labour, or labour troubles. It is purely an Association to secure better conditions for the men in •the force, and in that, I believe, the movement has the wide sympathy of tbe general public. The Comrmiesioner has shown hie band in his treatment of Con- ; stable Smyth in removing him bo Greymouth for being the instigator of this movement. Smyth had no more to do with it than many other men left in Auckland."