THE POLICE AMD THE PUBLIC.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 28, 3 February 1909, Page 6

THE POLICE AMD THE PUBLIC.

Naturally, when Britons settled in New Zealand they brought the police 'fsystem of the Mother Country with them, but a different land, with vastly differ ent conditions, induced .nodifications, which have become more pronounced as the years have rolled on. The average constable of New Zealand ha. 1 ; more responsibilities than his brother of England, and generally his muchvaried duties require greater intelligerce, better training, more power of thought. The New Zealand public, too, is different from the British public. Hence the relationship between the police and the public here is on a distinct basis, peculiar to the country, just j as the relationship between the gend- ■ aimes and the public of France is some- ■] thing peculiar to France. The French, j natiually, appoint French commissioner.- ti superintend the force, but New Zealand some time ago decided to import Britons to take charge nere. The beginning of this strange line of policy was not difficult to understand, for the Government of the day had been much hanied by criticisms of the police system as a whole, but its continuance is no longer justifiable. It was hinted in our news columns yesterday that a New Zealand officer was likely to succeed Commissioner Dinnie, whose fiveyear term of office expired recently, and we hope, for New Zealand's sake, that the Government will readily see the necessity for offering the position to a man who has graduated in this country. How can Britons, trained in altogether a different school, be expected to satisfactorily pick np all the threads of the complicated police skein here ? How can they escape making tangles ? How arc; they to learn the temperament of the public in this land of scattered population inside half a dozen years? They are very severely handicapped, and the years are slow to wear away the impost. They are put in a false position, and may be doomed to failure at the outset. If the New Zealand police ar; to be kept under proper supervision they should have a New Zealander over them ; the term New Zealander is used in a sense to include men who have lived sufficiently long in the country to understand it thoroughly. Coincident with the appointment of a new commissioner comes the question of a successor of Colonel Hume, Inspector of Prisons, who is mentioned in the list of officers retiring under the age limit. Names are already in the air, and it is stated by some shrewd observers that the Government has already fixed upon the feet that are to step into Colonel Hume's official shoes. In this appointment Cabinet has a grave responsibility to the people of New Zealand. Expediency, political or otherwise, may be leading tho Ministry in one direction, which may be not at all the best for New Zealand. The other day, at Christchurch, the Hon. Dr. Findlay, the new Minister for Justice, after reminding his hearers that he had been a student of criminology and prison reform, confessed a desire for the development of the reformatory side of the prison system, and in this wish he has the sympathy of the thinking public. If this policy is to have a prospect of success, it is very necessary to have a helpful inspector, one familiar with all phases of life in New Zealand, and fairly well versed in the experiences of other countries, a keen observer, a man quick to note and think on common-sense lines. The country will get small advantage from a man who will more or less mechanically make a pilgrimage among the prisons periodically, receive the quarterly or annual reports of the gaolers, and get the information tabulated and blue-booked. The inspector needs to be a "live man," a constructor, and we would like to have the assurance that it is a "live man" who is now in the Govei nment's mind.