TRICKING THE POLICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18225, 19 October 1922, Page 10

TRICKING THE POLICE.

Sir, —When reading the Hepali> on Tuesday morning, I -was somewhat amused by an account recorded therein of a robbery perpetrated at Scotland Y?,rd. Tho English polico have the reputation of being the finest in the ■world, according to the Americans', Germans, and Fi:ench; irrespective of the opinion in which they ave held by their own country. I do not desire for one moment to detract from them that fame and honour, becausc from personal experience, gained as a traveller in nearly every part of the world, I am led to confirm that theory. , Nevertheless, with all their ability and dexterity,' they are by no means infallible; and the following true and amusing story bears that out. At a certain suburban police station within approximately aix miles of London some few years ago, n thief entered the police station one night and saw the station sergeant dozing at his desk. I might add that there is invariably a sergeant in charge of a station at night in order to take the charges, down in writing should any prisoners bo brought in. The enterprising thief, after making a hasty inspection of the interior surroundings while the sergeant quietly slumbered, and the constable on duty "at the entrance was momentarily absent, took and mounted a chair, and carefully removed the station clock, which was banging on the wall. I believe the said time-pieca and the 4nimble thief are still wanted. Probably the former has been replaced by another, and the latter, had he been "nlaced," would have learnt something about "time." Truth sometimes reads stranger than fiction. Vent, Vidi, Vicr, I " THE PASSING OF THE MAORI." Sir, - —In Dr. Buck's able lecture on the iibove subject he i;et forth lucidly the causes that had led to the great decline in the Maori population during the last century, and the wonderful recovery they have made in the last 25 years." As a ilaori linguist and one who has been in close touch with them from my boyhood upward for long periods, I expressed my hearty concurrence with his views. There is no doubt that their altered manner of living, the doing away in a great measure of their old communistic fife, when they herded together in the insanitary whare puni (sleeping houses'), devoid of ventilation, which led to pulmonary diseases among them, has done much toward giving these interesting people a new lease of life. The individualisation of their tribal lands, the segregation of families into separate households, and the adoption of European habits of living generally has arrested the decrease that threatened the race i with extinction. This vastly-improved state of things has undoubtedly led to an increase in their numbers, but I do not think it accounts for the tremendous iump frcm 30,000 in the latter part of last century to 52,000, as shown in the last Government statistics, I think that much of this apparent increase is duo to mate reliable information of tfielr rumberg being obtainable at the present time. Tho Maoris are now a law-abiding people, and offer - little obstruction to Government measures, but formerly it was different. During the eighties, for instance, I was employed by the Government to 'take the Maori census of the Northern portion of Hawke's Bay, and the natives strenuously opposed the collection. They adduced various reasons; one was that the Government wanted to t?et hold of their lands; another was a Biblical reason, that God had afflicted Israel with the plague on account of King David persisting in numbering that people. Government officers engaged in the same work in other parts of New Zealand told me that they experienced tho same diffi ciiltv. consequently the Maori census in those days was only an approximation. However, there is now no doubt whatever that the. Maori population is happily on the upward grade. This is due also to the "excellent measures of the Govern ment for promoting the health and welfare of the Maoris, in which beneficial worn Dr. Buck is playing a distinguished part. It ia very gratifying to all who take an interest in tho natives, that their brightening prospects in this direction will lead to the survival of a remnant of a noble aboriginal race. J. T. Large. October 17.