EIGHT YEARS ABROAD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20288, 22 December 1927, Page 15

EIGHT YEARS ABROAD

EX-CHIEF DETECTIVE HERBERT RETURNS. IMPRESSIONS OF MANY LANDS. CRIME IN’ AMERICA. Many Dunedin people -will remember ex-Chief Detective Herbert, who was stationed for many years in this city, and who left New Zealand with his wife in 1919 to spend some years abroad. Mr Herbert is now back in Dunedin —ha arrived by the Rirautaka last evening—and some of the impressions which he has gathered in his years of travel in many lands were given to a Daily Times reporter last evening. The intervening years have dealt kindly w-ith Mr Herbert, and h& is looking remarkably well. DiKng their lengthy absence Mr and Mrs Herbert have seen a great of the world. They travelled first to Vancouver, and went from there to San Francisco, whore they intended to stay a month. The month extended to three years. However they wrenched themselves away from the lure of California, and went by the “ Sunset" route through the Southern States, New Orleans, and down to the Gulf of Mexico, and turned back to New York. Here they boarded a German steamer for Bremenhaven, and, after spending four months in Hamburg, travelled on to Rome and spent about a year or more in the land of Mussolini. Switzerland was the next country to see them, and after a brief sojourn there they went on to England and Ireland, another year being spent in Erin’s Isle. The succeeding 12 months were spent in England, and 1 they then moved on again to Scotland, and later to Brussels, Paris, the Riviera —which held them in its alluring spell for seven and a-half months—and back to London, where they caught the homeward boat, coming out via the Panama canal.

In yesterday morning’s issue Mr H. R. Spence voiced some optimistic opinions of the economic conditions in England, but Mr Herbert holds entirely different views. “Things are in a very troubled state,” he says, “ and the cost of living is extremely high. The unemployment position is still serious, and the wet summer has been very bad for farmers. As a matter of fact, some of them are on the verge of ruin on account of the complete failure of their crops. England has some grave problems to face, it seems to me, and I cannot see that there is any improvement in the relationship between capital and labour.” Of America, however, Mr Herbert drew a very bright picture. “ Business,” he said, “ is booming there, and the people are wonderful the way they got things done. If they decide to erect a bridge costing a million, or waterworks costing 10 millions, they will find the money and get it done. There is a marvellous degree of prosperity in evidence everywhere.”

Germany was found to be in a very bad condition, but Mr Herbert has reason to believe that there has been a marked improvement during recent months. In fact, it was said to be making better progress than any other country. “ The city that appealed to us most,” ha said, “ and we have seen a great many, was Edinburgh. Brussels, I think, comes next. Belgium now seems to be settling down to a period of prosperity, and most of the war areas have been rebuilt. Louvain is almost a new city, and has a fine new university.” So much for economic conditions. Mr Herbert was somewhat diffident about expressing any opinion on police matters in America, but the interviewer found an able ally in Mrs Herbert, who prompted her husband when the occasion arose. “ I am satisfied/ he told the reporter, “that their methods would never do out here. There is too much gun work. I have actually seen squads of men sent down by their chiefs to round up bandits, with instructions to shoot first and inquire afterwards. Well, you know. . . ! It seems to me that the whole system of justice is wrong in America. It would be very much better if it were run on English lines. It would be utterly impossible for some of the things that happen in America to occur in England. Why, everybody carries a gun there! All the young fellows have one.”

To show how the American system of justice lends itself to opportunities for corruption, Mr Herbert related an incident that occurred in San Francisco while he was there. There .are certain people there known as bail bond agents, or some such name, and when a man is charged with any serious offence they undertake to bail him out, on certain conditions. .These agents are in league with criminal lawyers, and between them they undertake to have the accused acquitted, if sufficient inducement is offering. The lawyer and the clerk of the court bettween them arrange a suitable jury of 12. About 48 men are empanelled, and their names are all put in the bos and shuffled quite fairly, it seems. But 36 of the names are held together by an elastic clip, and it is easy to draw the "12 good men and true ” who have been persuaded, by monetary arguments, that the prisoner is innocent. In the particular case referred to by Mr Herbert the two judges wore also corrupt. It was a wonderful exposition of justice—- “ crook ” magistrates, a “ crook ” lawyer, and “crook” bond agents! Mr Herbert made some passing allusion to the prevalence of crime nowadays, and said that the problem was becoming serious in England, where a largo number of major offences remained undetected. In America, of course, it was far worse, and the worst place in America was Chicago. There were more murders committed in Chicago, with its population of 2,000,000, than were committed in five years in the whole of England, with its population of 40,000,000. The American newspapers were inclined to make a hero of, a criminal. He was interviewed, and his wife was interviewed, and all the “ sob stuff ” possible was published. “ 1 have always loved him, and I will wait for him till he comeS out/’ and so on. It pandered to the tastes of a neurotic section of the community which sought excitement in sensational crimes.

In Ireland, the land of his birth, Mr Herbert noted a rapid settling down to normal conditions. The people there seemed to be more contented with their lot. What disturbances there were Were due to the conduct of the few, and not the many. There was no apparent fooling against England, such as had been evident in the past.