NEW POLICE CHIEF.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 2 December 1925, Page 6

NEW POLICE CHIEF.

HIS REMARKABLE CAREER. SOME NOTABLE CASES. (By Telegraph — Special to the Star.) WELLINGTON, Dec. 2. Superintendent W. B. Mellveney, who shortly takes the position as the head of his department, has been, associated, during a brilliantly successful career as detective, with some, of the most notable criminal cases in the Dominion. He began his detective career with the famous Minnie Dean’s babvfarming case at Winton in 1895, and five years later he was the principal factor in discovering the culprit in what was known as the Chinese murder case at Reefton. It was at first "believed! that' one murder had been committed, but a second was discovered through a remarkable incident in court, when the accused Chinaman was called to answer the charge of murdering one Lock Teoi. He replied: “I no kill Lock Teoi; I no kill Lou Quai; Englishman he kill them. ’ ’ This statement led to further police activity and the discovery, many miles "from any habitation, of the remains of the second victim. Mr Mellveney conducted the inquiries into) the Tapanui murder, where the victim was a Chinese gardener., and in 1908 he prepared the evidence in the notorious Westport murder case, where Bourke was. kicked to death, in a stable. Two seamen were arrested, and Mr Mellveney, who was on the headquarters’ detective staff, was sent to the district to conduct the investigation. The arrested men were convicted of manslaughter! and the principal witness wag. subsequently convicted of perjury. There was a further development as the result of Mr MeIlveney’s activities, the convicted perjurer admitting his complicity in Bourke’s death and! being sentenced for manslaughter. A licensing inquiry, out of the track of the usual detective work, but of immediate public interest at the time, 1909, was what was known as the Ohinemuri licensing case. Allegations were made that the Licensing Committee had been bribed to secure the removal of a license from Paeroa to Waihi. Judge Sim was appointed a commissioner to hold an enquiry,_ hut on an appeal to the 'Supreme Court the commission was declared ultra vires, the principal reason being that such an investigation could not legally take place if the commissioner was to be empowered to force witnesses, on tlieir oath, to make statements which might incriminate themselves. So serious ' a matter could not be allowed to rest at this stage, therefore the Commissioner of Police, by. direction of iSir John Findlay,, then Attorney-General, instructed! Mr Mellveney to make an investigation. He did so, and the result was reported to the Government and to the principal but it has never been made public. Thei detective’s report was evidently accepted as sound, and the matter was never again TO/iSGCi. The new Commissioner has had more than the usual share in murder mvesti- • gations. When he was appointed a sub-inspector at Auckland, in, 1915, he took charge of a case against Keal, the _ Onewhero murderer, who killed his sis-ter-in-law and infant child, then escaping into the hush. Mr Mellveney on that occasion was associated with a detective officer who is now Sub-Inspec-tor Hollis. They had to organise a ore at round-up with the assistance of settlers from a radius of 20 miles, a big area of bush, being circled and the hunters coming closer to the point where Keal was believed to be hidden. _ He was discovered snugly ensconced in a natural crow’s nest on a tree, commanding a good view. _ When the pursuit became hot he dived into the bush, but was captured after an exciting chase among the fallen timber. Mr Mcllveney’s last big criminal case resulted in the conviction and hanging of Daniel Richard Cooper for child murder in a Wellington suburb. This was an extraordinary case, which necessitated the digging up of the whole of a large section around Cooper’s house. At one stage the police, who had found a body of a child, came across another which they had not suspected to be there. The case was brought home to the culprit largely through _ Mr _ Mcllveney’s knowledge of medical jurisprudence. It was built up in a; most painstaking manner, and the trial was very lengthy, the accused being ultimately convicted in respect to one child. The new Commissioner’s most recent service was the able organisation of protection for free labour to man the ships held up in Wellington, this being done with a minimum of disturbance, though some events showed that less capable or more provocative arrangements might have had serious results.

Mr Mcllveney is the son of a goldminer, was horn in Grevmoutli, and ioined the police 32 years ago as a junior constable.