SCOTLAND YARD.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12896, 30 August 1907, Page 7

SCOTLAND YARD.

A NEW ZEALAND DETECTIVE'S IMPRESSION.

Chief Detective Mcllveney being '« the first New Zealand detective to visit Scotland Yard on aotivo service, his impressions of that remarkable institution ar© of particular >*v rest, and from the point of view of crime-euppreesion .in the colony) of special value. "New Soot-* f land Yard," Mr Mcllvoney remarked to a "Press" reporter last night, "had a peculiar interest for mc, and tho officials there spared no pains to show' mc whatever was likely to prove of . uee. Anyone seeing Scotland Yard for the first time, goes with the Jbaiiost possible conception of the magnitude, ... the versatility and the multiplicity ot undertakings comp*assed by • that, great institution. It is impossible to ; speak in terms'of :> too Verm praise of the officers and men I met. Among ' the detective .force tho 'men wero / mostly young; all were highly trained, of more than average intelligence, and were keenness" and conscientiousness: personified. For instance,, Scotland Yard has * complete electric telegraph equipment of its own, • connecting with all. stations in and about London, it being possible, to connect with all of thorn simultaneously. \ There Iβ also a private printing establish-; ment, in which the whole of the official and confidential printing is done. There are many.departments in. Scotlend Yard of the existence of which the outeide public has little, if any; knowledge. 1 had the privilege of being shown through the . wonderful museum. TJbere I saw every . conoeivaWe type of implemeot and in- " strumeht employed in criminal practices, many of these being entirely new... to mc. The uso of all of these was ex-, plained to mc by the officer, in charge of the mueeurn, in addition to.the his- ' toty attaching to each particular tool . ■ or weapon. The collection of curios to;• % not confined to, the criminal annals dt London. ' It comprehends the' whole of ' Great Britain and' Ireland, Canada, and portions of Africa, every individual , exhibit having been connected witn the commission of some great' crime. This museum, naturally, is very highly prised, and is .visited by.many, people /..' of note. A visitor's book is on the day preceding my inspection an entry showed' that two -tvoyal princesses had beeh included among tho interested visitors to that particular ueEarttnent. Scotland Yard has a very no finger-print system, but, witn j , --' due respect to the authorities there, 1. think that an improvement (concerning which I am not at liberty to give ticulars) made by Commissioner Dinnio in our own fingor-print department , at Wellington, places the New Zealand ; system on euch a basis ( T that we 'have nothing to learn ' from Scotland' Yard. Undoubtedly Commissioner Din* nie's improvement is an invaluable oho, and I appreciated its usefulness fully upon inspecting tho present Homo method. A greater portion of the ' general system of crime prevention and detection as practised at Scotland Yard has already been incorporated with our Now Zealand methods by Mr Dinnie, who had the honour of serving a large number of years-in almost every department of Scotland Yard. I may tell yon that our present Commissioner is highly esteemed not only at tho" Yard" itself, but in London generally. When it was known I was from New Zealand I was besieged by . enquiries for Mr Dinnie, and the mere feet that I belonged to his staff here sufficed to gain mo entrance into many places of interest, which otherwise I should not have seen. Scotland Yard is a great institution/indeed, and a visit well repays any colonial officer. The higher officials ere old comrades of our. Commissioner, nnd they were only too nnxions and pleased to show or tell mc anything likely to interest or instruct mc. Special officers were de>*tailed as guides to show mc as much or London as could be seen in four days, and I need not tell you that, thanks to their able pilotage, I contrived to view sights ihnii the average colonial visitor would do in three times tho time I had to Spend."