STORM CAUSED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 281, 28 November 1938, Page 5

STORM CAUSED.

SPEECH TO RECRUITS. POLICE AND PARLIAMENT. COMMISSIONER'S ATTACK. (From Our Own Corrwipondetvt.) SYDNEY, November 24. A speech to recruits, delivered by the Police Commissioner (Mr. Mackay) at the presentation of the Royal Humane Society's certificate for police bravery in the Rodney Harbour disaster, caused a storm in the Legislative Assembly this week. To understand how touchy are relations between Parliament and the high police command it in necessary to recall some of the principal events in Mr. Mackay's career. He came to New South Wales from the Glasgow Police Force and had a rapid rise here to executive positions. In 1!»2I) he was a sub-inspector and during the coal lockout, which lasted more than a year, was placed in charge of the police in the northern coalfields. In that position he was accused by the miners, and their newspaper organ, the "Labour Daily," of terrorist tactics bv organising flying squads of police in high-powered cars who, as soon as thev met a group of miners marching somewhere, were accused of springing out of their cars and without any warning or Inquiry, dispersing the men by baton charges. On the other hand, in 1031-32, when the Fascist N'ew Guard was a potential danger, Mr. Mackay was stated to have shown no more tenderness for it in his enforcement of the law. 111 1036 occurred the S.P. scandals, the bitterness of which is still felt. After two inquiries by Judge Markell, sitting as a Royal Commissioner, several men were dismissed from the force, having been found guilty of haying "framed" S.P. cases. Judge Markell, after sitting a third time on these policemen's cases, is now considering '"in^hls 1 speech to the recruits Mr. Mackay told them that they would b«

contindhlly the butt of attacks, some of t which would be made under the privi- " lege of Parliament. "Take no notice of ' them," he said. "Let them pass by on e the other side of the road. Play your r part whatever Government is in power. » Take no part in party politics. Never it in any circumstances enter into an|l intrigue with an individual member of Parliament. i "If you have a grievance, never go to 1 a member of Parliament and ask him 1 to interfere or intercede or ask questions. As members of a disciplinary 1 body, you know as well as I that ' discipline must be maintained in the 1 i police force. When every individual has 1 ; access to a member of Parliament, then 1 if any Parliamentarian so far forgets ' himself as to make himself a tool of 7 an individual, as against the well being 1 of the community, he is not of much r consequence. "Better to Get Out." \ i "If you cannot find your way as j I gentlemen and policemen without having ' jail manner of questions raked up in • Parliament, without having the Com ■ missioner of Police attacked unwar- ' ) rantably on the floor of the House. , without having vile aspersions cast against the commissioned ranks of this , service then it is far better to get out , of the job. "We can suffer in the police force still. We can take their jibes and their threats and their innuendoes. I fe.-r s sure that Parliament has men who will i not stand by and see the decent name v of the police force unwarrantably - maligned, week in and week out. One f of these day# out of Kgypt will come a r prophet who will stand up and take up i the cudgels for myself, and various members of the service, who are coni tinually made a target for spleen and 1 distorted facts." e At the very time Mr. Mackay was s delivering himself of this outburst a iU.A.P. member, Mr. Sanders, was i, attacking him on the floor of the Assembly. Mr. Sanders reopened the I, case of an inspector named Thornley, J who, after certain happenings within the force, was about to be retired on an U inspector's pension, when Cabinet interI, vened and retired him on a much lower e pension of a sergeant. g Mr. Sanders returned to his attack again the next day. The basis of his •. charge was that the Commissioner of «' Police had reported that Thornley had

a clean record (the personal history] sheet which is used as the basis for promotion), whereas in fact Thornlev had been once sent away "in the interest of the force," had been absent without leave, and had been the subject of a report by the metropolitan superintendent, who had refused to employ liim in detective work. Mr. Sanders also alleged that Thornley after reporting that he was ill, had been found in a hotel, and had been told then that any future lapse would be dealt with seriously. "I have a duty to the decent men of the force," he said. "I have shown the House two serious misdemeanours by this ex-officer that are not on his history sheet. Until everything is shown on such sheets there must be something wrong with the police force. "Contempt of Parliament." Mr. Mackay's speech to the recruits aroused "Truth." Mr. Mackay's remarks, it said, were arrogant, and in effect told the recruits to treat proceedings in Parliament with contempt. Borrowing invective from G'arlyle in its enthusiasm, "Truth" declared that the "seething devil's broth" which bubbled beneath the outwardly calm surface of the police force had been uncovered only by means of persistent questions asked in the House. As a counter to Mr. Mackay's advice, "Truth" invited recruits to consider the 'following facte: Constable Miller, who ! was upheld by Judge Markell, was ''victimised and hounded until he went temporarily out of his mind. Police hunted him like bloodhounds, searched his life and his home, probed his personal morals and browbeat his wife until she was driven almost crazy." "Truth" provided a list of similai things for the recruits to ponder over including a case of "a crook" who got back into the force, and from whom they would have to take orders. It recalled that Mr. Mackay had once impulsively cried out, "Let us keep our troubles to ourselves," and concluded: ' One minute Mackay is crying for scan dais to be bottled up, the next he is writing to the Premier that all is well with the police force, then he is sick and wants to resign (a reference to Mr Mackay's recent sick leave), next he is fit and wants to keep going, and next he is telling his recruits to defy Parliament." Now is the time, it concluded for Parliament to deal with "Ajai Mackay."