THE POLICE FORCE

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1536, 7 August 1901, Page 13

THE POLICE FORCE

ANNUAL BEPORT OF THE COM.

MISSIONER.

The annual report of Commissioner Tunbridge on the Police Force was laid before Parliament on the 31st ult. On the 31st March last the strength

of the force was 591 of all ranks, representing an increase of 5 during the year. The total is made up as fellows : —lnspectors, 7 ; sub*inspectors, 4; sergeants-major, 2; sergeants, 54; constables, 504; detectives, 20. In addition to above, there were 4 police surgeons, 4 matrons, 20 district constables, 7 native constables, and 86 harsqs.

The principal increases in the crimi*» nal statistics are: —Absconding from industrial schools, 25; assaults, indecent, 13; assault and robbery, 23; breaches of the peace, 140; deserting and failing to provide for wives and children, 104; deserting merchant vessels, 66; disturbing meetings and oon* gregations, 27; drunkenness, 1010; illegally on premises, 32; indecent exposure and behaviour, 20j lunacy, 48; malicious injury to property, 81; slygrog selling, 91; sureties of the peace, 28; theft of cattle and horses, 19; theft by servants, 30; and vagrancy, 23. The principal decreases are; Abusive and threatening language, 30; disobeying orders of Court, 29; failing to support parents and near relatives, 26; false declarations, 39; false pre* fences, 46; gaming offences, 65; neglected and criminal children, 36; oh*

structing and resisting police, 23 ; theft undescribed, 26; theft from dwellings, 29; trespass, 57.

! The increase or 1493 on the year, compared with the increases of the years 1897, 1898 and 1899, which were | 546, 1159 and 487 respectively, appears ; at first sight to be somewhat startling (says the Commissioner); but, as this increase is practically made up by the increases in the number of breaches of the peace (140), deserting and failing to provide for wives and children (104), deserting merchant vessels (66), disa turbing meetings and congregations (27), drunkenness (1010), lunacy (48), and sly-grog selling (9x) —total 1486all of which are offences of a light character, and coine within the category of unpreventable offences, it does not reflect on the efficiency of the Police Force. The best criterion of the effi/i ciency or otherwise of a Police Force is the fall or rise respectively in the number of preventable offences, such as thefts of various kinds, burglary, housebreaking, forgery, fraud, etc. During the past year there has been a net decrease of 53 on the figures of th e preceding year in respect to the preventable offences above named, which tends to show that the force, as a preventive body, had at least maintained the state of efficiency which existed during the year 1899. The figures showing the total number of arrests for drunkenness indicate, Mr Tunbridge says, that the law with respect to Sunday-trading, especially in - Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, is still infringed to a considerable extent, and, as stated in former reports, this will continue to. be so as long as the law remains in its present state. He again recommends that the law should be amended on the lines of the Intoxicating Liquors Act, 1872, in force in England, which renders any person, who is neither a lodger nor bona fide traveller, found on the pre.* mises during prohibited hours, liable to a prosecution.

There were 169 prosecutions for slygrog selling during the year, resulting in 107% convictions, and fines amounting in the aggregate to £1351 4s were imposed, as against 82 prosecutions, 40 convictions, and fines amounting to £432 during th e preceding year. The difficulties experienced in former years in obtaining evidence in slysgrog cases still maintain, and it is by very considerable expenditure, and having recourse to methods which are nant alike to a large majority of the public, the police, and those w : lio assist the latter, that the necessary evidence

to warrant prosecutions has been obtained. ... -

Mr Tunbridge reports that great difficulty is still experienced in dealing with the illegal “tote” betting men un* der the existing law. Until the police are given power to arrest without warrant betting-men found following their avocation in the streets or other public places, those “pests to society” will continue to flourish. The law in Eng* land gives this power, and it works well. The Courts of the colony hold that betting at “tote” odds must be absolutely proved before a conviction can follow. On the other hand, certain Magistrates condemn the police if they seek to make bets themselves, or procure other persons to do so, with a view of obtaining the necessary evidence, on the ground that by so doing they become particeps criminis. It will therefore be seen that it is practically impossible for the police to deal ef* fectively with the incitement to gamble afforded by the presence in the streets of the walking “tote” man. If the police had power to arrest without warrant, then the memoranda, etc., - which these ■ betting-men must necessarily carry with them would be seized and used as evidence. Mr Tunbridge Sow finds that the telephone is largely resorted to by the betting men in carrying on their illegal calling; and many of the so-called private billiard-rooms are little else than gambling places. Although the Municipal Corporations Act, 1900, section 404, gives the local authorities power to- pass by-laws for the regulation of these billiard-rooms, ncsaJiing has yet, so far as the Com mis* sioner is aware, been don© in. that direction. Consequently these places ar© still under no restrictions whatever aa to closing, etc., with the result that many young men, much to their detriment, are inveigled into these rooms, and kept there until the small hours of the morning, associating with spiel* ers and ether undesirable habitues, who subsist on following race meetings during the daytime and frequenting bil* liard-rooms at night. The Commissioner calls attention to the effect of section 6 of the Indictable Offences Summary Jurisdiction Aot Amendment Act of last session, and points out that it was net the inten* tion of the Legislature that persons charged with petty offences should claim to he tried by a jury. With regard to second-hand shops, Commissioner Tunbridge states that many of these shops are little else than places for the disposal of stolen property. He hopes the Bill on. this subject which was before Parliament in 1896 will b© passed into law. Mr Tunbridge speaks well of the con* duct of the force. The training depot established in December, 1898, continues to work well. Owing to the extension of the city in the Newtown die* trict, the whole of Mount Cook Police Station is now required for the police doing duty there, consequently provision will have to be made for carrying on the training depot. The Commissioner has been in consultation with the architect cf the Public Works De* partment, who advises that the necessary accommodation for the training depot, quarters for a married sergeant, and increased cell ~ accommodation, bota of which are also much needed at Mount Cook, can be provided by additions to the present buildings. An estimate of the cost is being prepared with a view of having it included in the coming estimates.

The country is prosperous, and woi’k of various kinds is not difficult to obtain, and, says Dr MacGregor, these facts, together with the reduction affected by the old age pensions, has reduced the amount distributed in .outdoor relief from £50,850 in 1899 to £42,181 for the year ending 31st March, 1901. Dr MacGregor speaks well of the progressive administration of the Wellington Benevolent Trustees, and of tfte manage* ment of the Alexandra Home, the Wellington Convalescent Home, and the Home for the Aged Needy. He recommends the establishment of a central receiving home in each island for the r & ception of incurable, helpless and bedridden persons. . ••