INSPECTOR GILLIES.

Greymouth Evening Star, 31 August 1910, Page 8

INSPECTOR GILLIES.

SKETCH OF HIS CAREER

Here is the career of Inspecto: Gillies of Christchurch, who is to b retired from tne Police Force: —In spector R. J. Gillies lauded in Auckland in 1874, and the following yc-ai lie joined the police force. He wa: previously a member of the Irish Con stabulary. Mince joining the New Zealand police force Hr Gillies ha: been stationed in different parts o' the Dominion. About 1887 lie wa appointed to take charge of the static: at To Awamutu, Waikato, where b remained for seven or eight years. 1 was whilst he was at To Awamutu that Mr Gillies planned and carricc out one of the smartest arrests 0"e made in the Dominion. A young man named Pecker, who had come lion England to reside at Epsom, was bin tally murdered by a Maori namei Winiata. The murderer get away t; the King Country (which at that tim was a little-known radon) a”' 1 r* 1 mained there for several years. Ho was ultimately arrested by Mr Gillies, was brought to justice and wa l hanged. The residents of AVaikab presented an address to Mr Gillies set ting forth their appreciation of his courage and resourcefulness; his services were also recognised by the Government. Mr Gillies was next in charge of the station at Devonport, near Auckland, and in 1889 he was placed in charge of the Thames and Goldfields sub-district, a position he h id for about nine years. At. the end of 1893 he was promoted to be Inspector in the Wanganui and. West Coast districts of the North Island, and in March, 1902, ho entered upon his duties as inspector of the Canterbury and North Otago police district.