SALARIES IN THE POLICE DEPART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume II, Issue 442, 13 April 1865, Page 4

SALARIES IN THE POLICE DEPART.

v\ k were clad to notii-e the otlier day tli.it the Council hid voted an extra shilling per day to the pay of the constables of the. Auckland J-Oiiuy roree, but there is one other item of expenditure in this department which seems to have escaped tlie notice of the Council—we nllucle to the salary paid to the Commissioner's Clerk, who also holds the office of Inspector of Weights (tnd Measure.', and Inspector of Bread, ami for the conjoint duties of which three offices he receives only £Wf> per annum. The duties of the oflice of Clork to the Commissioner are of themselves of a verv onerous and responsible nature, and of them it may with some truth be said that they require tlie full exercise of a combination of qualities which is not adequately remunerated by a salary So low as that given to the present holder of tlie oilice. Jii addition to them, however, are those of (lie Inspectorships—the ohe of which alone used to he paid for by tlie Council nt tlie rate f f £K«) a-ycar.

The Commissioner, we believe, recommended that the salary of these three ofliees should be increased to £200 per annum, and we think the members of the Council will agree with us when we say that such a sum is none too much when the nature of the duties performed is taken into account. That those duties have hitherto been well and zealously performed by the present holder of the oflice' adds something, we think, to Ihe claim for increase of pay. The non-atten-tion to this item lias been, ire believe, nn act of omission on thepart of members, which requires only their attention drawn to it to cause it to be remedied while there is yet time.