A PAPULAR APPOINTMENT.

NZ Truth, Issue 240, 12 February 1910, Page 4

A PAPULAR APPOINTMENT.

The promotion of S£r C. E. Matthews, private secretary to tbe Hon. R. McKenzie, to the oneKras position of chief clerk of Use Police Department, is an appointment calculated to giW en&te public satisfaction. Mr Matthews is a yoaag and capable official, with special tjuaudcatiens for a position carrying with it musk responsibility. He has had considerable experience m the Department of Justice, and this experience should stand bim m good stead m a sphere where talent, tact and activity will all count. Personally, Mr Matthews is a popular and esteemed public servant, and his position as private secretory to a Minister is undoubted proof that he enjoys the confidence of the members of the Cabinet, which on Tuesday last confirmed his appointment. The 'appointment is the more welcome as this position was formerly occupied by a sateof: a:,, discredited Police Comnrissionfct. This, ptrsition used to be regarded as one ; /of. i!bs. plums of the Police Department, "while r^fee chief clerk; rightly or wroasrlV-;-." was by many dissatisfied members of a disp^ganispd police fores held to be virtually, 1/ Police Commissioner — a point upcm #bich 'Mr Bishop, S.M., the Koyal Commissionei:,""i^ould express no definite opinion. ; : Ijtoweyer, as Sub-la-spector Wright's pflsitibn as.chief clerk of the Police Department beca^uo almost a scandal;' it was impossijile that Mr Bishop should pass the matter over tifeotly. He recommended sweeping t change*- in the Dinnie-governed Departme^fc-r-a J>?partmenfc m which were gathered 'together the pets and nincompoops of a rcrtfeealy .... administered Police Force, and by which art. intolerable position was created aad wbi'cb/ made it inevitable that the administration of the force should be reviewed by a Royal Commission. The Royal Coramis- 1 sion, as we all know, was held. The rc-j port justified, m almost every particular,the scathing indictment that "Truth" for a number of years arraigned Diruiie on. In the end Disnle had to be practieallv kicked out of his position. It was also inevitable that his friends, his bandy men. whom he had gathered about him, would have to be relieved of their responsibilities. These changes were a long | time coming. They have proved a tri- | Uiopb. for "Trati." which, like a voice m the wilderness, cried our against Dinnie's | incompetent management. For its teroeritv the paper has suffered, bat it has triumphed. Now that Sub-inspector Wright has been superseded by Mr Matthews we can hope for a much more satisfactory system. With Mr Waldegravc as Police CouiraLssioner, the abuses of the past will disappear. We view with satisfaction also I>r. Fihdl&y's announcement that "Several of the police - officers at present employed m clerical duties -will be etven appropriate police duties m dne courss, and the clerical staff win came under Me Waktegrave." This means ibat the sxtray of sergeants that Dhmie, without justification, appointed to lucrative I positions; wiM have to dp the wcrk of I police sergeants. An ordinary police sergeant is the hardest-worked member . of the force, and "Truth" views with apprehenstan the experiment of a half dozen soft-haw3ed cietfcs doing sectional duty and therwxse controrlin^ the street patrols. We wHI await with interest further appointments. The Government is to be congratulated on the appointments .made so far. Mr Waldeurave as Police Commissioner is the right man m the right place. As chief clerk, Mr Matthews i should earn the confidence of everybody.