Chathams policeman a jack of all trades

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32677, 5 August 1971, Page 8

Chathams policeman a jack of all trades

< By

ROBERT HORROCKS,

Z.P.A. staff correspondent)

WELLINGTON, n Being a policeman in one of New Zealand’s loneliest outposts is akin to being a jack of all trades. Constable H. W. Il Hampton, awarded the ' British Empire Medal , for his services to New i Zealand in the Queen’s Birthday honours, goes even beyond the call of duty in ,his role as the Chatham Islands police force. With a farming background behind him—in a two-year break from the police force 12 years ago he farmed his father’s property—Constable i Hampton wasted little time’ in going into business as a, milk supplier when he moved to the Chathams in 1968. 1 He is the town-milk sup-i plier to the relatively large contingent of public servants! at the main settlement of Waitangi. Twice a day Bill ! Hampton milks his six pedigree Friesian cows with a I milking machine he designed! himself. When he began, many! residents were using milk! powder or tinned milk. [ VARIED DUTIES But milking cows is only a sideline to Constable Hampton’s varied duties. He is Registrar of the Magistrate’s Court at Waitangi, the island’s Customs officer, the probation officer, secretary of [the Chathams licensing comImittee, and co-ordinator of the Search-and-Rescue Organisation. His duties used to include that of Marine Superintendent—a post he held through the height of the crayfishing bonanza and now, even though the importance of fishing in the Cnathams has

declined, a job more than ■ occupying a man full time. As court registrar. Con-, stable Hampton is also! responsible for registering deaths, and marriages, and in the course of his time in the Chathams has married couples, registered the birth of their children and, as police constable, attended their domestic disputes. “You get a pretty good insight to their lives,” he said. OUTDOORS MAN Bill Hampton, who is 34, is an outdoors man, and the Chathams suits him. But he admitted to me that it was not an easy life to be an effective police force in the Chathams. In a place where life is !not quite like anywhere else in New Zealand, the respect of the island population is , essential. In his quiet and I firm manner. Constable Hampton has achieved this. During four days spent touring the Chatham Islands ! with the Governor-General (Sir Arthur Porritt), I was able to see the calm manner in which he went about his work and mixed with the people. It would be difficult to fluster Bill Hampton. More than one person told me he was “good for the islands.” FACED WITH CHALLENGE When Constable Hampton came to the Chathams from Murupara he had before him a challenge greater than anyone imagined. In two years and a half, he was faced with 30 deaths by drowning round the islands or from mishaps to convoys of fishing boats heading to them. I As Marine Superintendenl {and police constable, he was I doubly involved in most ol j them. The problems were ; compounded by the fact thai i several drownings were ir I international waters and n< II body was recovered.

This was the period covering the height of the Chatham Islands crayfishing bonanza. At its peak, in 1968-69. 280 boats were engaged in the lucrative business of crayfishing. Constable Hampton talks of this period with a touch of bitterness. His police duties were arduous enough without the additional responsibilities that the job of Marine Superintendent brought. “It wasn’t until after the main bonanza was over that something was done to i appoint an officer to police ■the fishing regulations,” he said. “There was such a needless loss of life.” I Now the boom has passed, and since the end of 1969 a Marine Department officer ;has been stationed at Wai,tangi. ENJOYS THE LIFE This year. Constable iHampton has had only two drownings in the islands to Ideal with, and with the fishiing industry now working in a more settled pattern, the {attendant difficulties of the bonanza are no longer. Bill Hampton enjoys the tough life of the Chathams and has no immediate plans for returning to the mainland, though he realises such a move will be essential in ; a few years for the sake of his children’s education. “It doesn’t pay to change ' the police constable here too , frequently,” he said. “The. . people are reserved, and it ’ takes a lot to get to know , them.”