POLICE COMMISSION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2300, 31 March 1898, Page 7

POLICE COMMISSION.

The sittings of the Police Commission were resumed afe the Town Hall »-i F i lay morning at 10 o'clock; present— Mr H. S. Wardell (chairman), Mr J. W. Poynton, and Colonel Pitfe. Inspector Pardy (recalled) said he did not wish a wrong impression to get abroad by the statement ia tha paper that "he had not recently had reason t:> fine or reprimand " Constable Brennan. He had never had occasion to fine or reprimaud that official, and had always had a good opinion of him. Nicholas Azzwetti made complaints againsb Constable Treaey, of Poro Chalmers, of having used insulting language towards his (Azzaretti's) wife, and of having persecuted her. Tha grounds of the complaint were that Constable Treaey had persecuted JYlrs Azzaretti because she would not allow her sou to give eviderce in an assault case, and at that time had threatened to "have her yet"; and that in November last Treacy had said to Mrs Azzaretti that he would not pick her or any of her family up if he saw them dead on the road. The police record of Mrs Azzaretti was produced, showing she had been several times before the court on charges of drunkenness, assault, and creating a breach of the peace. Constable Treaey denied that he had ever insulted Mrs Azzaretti or used threatening language toward"? her. The nexb ca«e inquired into vcas one brought by Constable Treacy, of Port Caaitners, who said he had j-uned the Armed Constabulary in 1879. In 1885 he was transferred to the Permanent Arcillery, and in 1891 to the police force as a third-class constable. He was still in that position. He desired that hiss services in the constabulary should count for longservice pay. There was nothing against him on fche defaulters' list, but there were some merits. Treacy'e defaulters' list was produced. It showed a clean sheet so far as offences were concerned. His merit sheet showed thafc ia 1893 h*; received £3 for tho detection and arrest of Phillips, and in the sama year he received a ; long-service and gond-conduct medal. In 1895 he received £1 for the arrest of a deserter. Iv 1896 he received £5 for services in connection with the arrest of Thomaß Home, and 10s for the arrest of a deserter. In 1897 he received £2 for the arrest of absentees, and in 1897 £2 | 16s 8d for securing a, conviction for smuggling ( against Coleman. | At the request of Colonel Hume a, return of the constables who bad gone through a course

of ambulance training, aad wer« stationed, was called for. Asked on the subject, Inspector Pardy said it would be a very good thing iS the polica wars instructed in first aid work. Robert Raoier Jones deposed that he joined the A.C. ia 1874-, aud in 1879 was transferred to the detective force in Auckland, under Subinspector Pardy. He wis moved about to several places, mostly in Ofcago. On the 16th June, 1896, he obtained his discharge. He was then a nrst-cla«s constable. Seven years ago ha and another constable arrested at Wairoa Downs a convict who had escaped from fche penal settlement at Miiford. Under the Prisons Act there was a reward of £20 payable to any constable who arrested an escaped convict. He hnd never received tbas reward, and had never applied for ib. The Chairman : Had you not better apply to tha department, for the reward before you come to us ? Jones agreed to adopb this course, and further consideration was deferred. Sergeant Dwyer gave evidence in support of his complaint that he had not received promotion commensurate with his length of service. The afternoon sitting was occupied with hearing evidence regarding a eomplesiot of laxity of dafcv and peraecuKon against Constable Leece and Sergeant M'Leod, at Mat&kanui, brought by Mrs Slattery, who was residing at that township two years ago, when the alleged offences took place. The witness charged tho police with taking no action 'against the keeper of the hotel, although they knew that it wag a house with a bad character, and that drinking waa carried on in it until early morning. x Cross-examined by Constable Leece, witness said she kept drink in her own place, bufe she did not tell it. Ifc was tma that Constable Leeca had obtained * conviction for sly grogBslling against her, but she never sold the drink. Mr 3 Wall, who lived in the hotel, knocked down hex fence ou one ocsasion, and •when witness spoke to the' police about ifc they would lake.no action, and they did not offer to assist her to prosecute Mrs Wall for tha offence. They would not help her to find her husband. - • Constable Leece (now stationed at South Dunedio) and Sergeant M'Leod (now stationed at Sydecham) gave evidence denying the allegations made by Mrs Slattery. They gave the hotel a good character, considering that it was a place frequented by miners, rabbiters, and station hands. ' . Another charge brought by Mrs Slatfcery was that the police have "stolen" her son from her, but the evidence of the police was to the effect thftt the boy had bsen convicted of the theft oi gooseberries, and that having been allowed out pending inquiries they had to resort to strategy to recapture him, the boy being very cunning. The commission adjourned until 10 a.m. next day. The Police Commission resumed their sittings afc the -TTown Hall on Saturday morning-, when there wei'o present— Messrs Wardell (chairman), Poynton, and Colonel Pitfe. Commissioner Tunbridge, ex- Commissioner Colonel Hume, and Inspector Pardy were also in attendance. Charles B >nner, *t present head constable afe j Queenatown, complained that he did not receive long service pay, also that the time he waa in j Armed Constabulary and Arfcillery forces was j not taken into consideration for his length of setvice riuce being transferred to the poiice. Sergeant; Dwyer, third-class _ serge wA, sfa- j tioned at Clyde, said that he had b£en in fche service 20 je&rs. He complained that he had been overlooked in regard to the matter of promotion. The cose of living in the district in which he lived was 25 pec cent, dearer than in town. Ilia pay was 9s 6d per day, including Is a day long service pay. He contended that as it had suited the department to allow him to remii'i in charge of the gaol when afc i Oamatu iv 1884- he should hXve been promoted j afc thafc time, when a cerfcaiu number of junior sergeants were promoted over his head. Other constables who were acting gaolers afc that time were promoted and left in charge of their | gaols. He instanced the gaoler at Timaru. i Among the batch of promotions last mania \ several acting gaolers had been promoted. He had received especial recognifciou for acts of brayery in Dunedin in 1888, and afc Oaraaru in 1891. He asked that he be placed in order of ssuiority on the eecond-cla'-s list. Commissioner Tunbridge said hs wished ifc to bs understood that he did uofc object to the witness's promobion. He thoughb witness was a very competent man, and fib to fill any j position in the force. j Witness (continuing his evidence) said, in ] reply to Commissioner Tunbridge, thafc he thought thafc fche police would be a good deal better off with a pension than if they had a retiring allowance. The men in his district had asked him to say that they would bo more satisfied with a pension. Ha did not fchink the men would object to contribute towards a, pension. He for one would nob object. Inspeotor Pardy, who was then called by the last witness, slated that Sergeant Dwyer had been stationed under him something over 12 months, and had given him great satisfaction. He would certainly nofc recommend four sergeants that D wyer had mentioned for promotion over his head. The men had served under him, and he had nothing to say against them, but if he were asked to say which was the best man he would say Dwyer was. Colonel Hume said he could concur in what Inspector Pardy had said with reference to Dwyer. This, however, was one of those cases he had pointed out in Wellington. Almost all the North Island stations were held or had been held by acting sergeant-majors or first-class sergeants, and directly one Attempted to send a third-class sergeant to an acting

sergeant-major's or a first-class sergeant's plaoa ufae particular locality interested always considered it an insult. He had not; forgotten Sergeant Dwyer'a request to go to the north, and the two stations vacant; happened to ba Palrnerston North and Wanganui. He thought; he would be a suitable man for Palaierston North, where they just had a sergeant-major, who died ; but he found that if he sent him there he would only have brought a hornet's nest aboub his ears, because his rank unfortunately was only third class. Then down here Clyde was the only station vacant except a town station, where he would not have got a, house free. That wa3 the reason he sent him up to Clyde. To Commissioner Tanbridge : Witness understood that Sergeant Dwyer would stand lower oh the seniority list, than the four men Dwyei: mentioned who had been made sergeants, because he had not had practice in conducting cases in court. He considered the men in question bad a special claim to be promoted over his head, because they were sergeants and he was only acting-sergeant. Inspector Pardy, who waa recalled, stated that Sergeant Dwyer sent seven prisoners to trial at the Supreme Court from Clyde. Dwyer gavo him every satisfaction since he had been at Clyde, and he was highly pleaeeS with the way in which he got up the case* referred to and placed the evidence before the court. Sergeant Dwyer, speaking for Sergeants M'Kenzie, Chisholm, Finby, and himself, said since the goldfields allowance to members of the police force had besn taken away in 1889 nothing had been given in its place. He submitted, however, that the necessaries of life were as high to-day as they were 15 or 20 years ago so far as Roxburgh, Alexandra, Clyde, Cromwell, Pembroke, Arrowfcown, and Queenstown were concerned. Nearly everything was 25 per cent, dearer afc those pieces than it was in Dunedin and towns along the coast. Men stationed at those places were therefore greatly handicapped in regard to the cost of living, and they had not such good facilities for educating their families as the town police had. He thought that men should not be stationed xnora than three years on the goldfields. The Chairman intimated that the comraissiou would not take any more evidence in Dunedin at present. They were going to Invercargill on Monday, and expected to be back here next Saturday night, and would resume tha taking of evidence on Ihe fcillcwing Monday. The North Ofcago Time.i ■lut'ferstsnds thatthfc Rev. Hugh Kelly, of Waimate, has accepted a call to the new Parnell ' Presbyterian Church. This church is an offshoot of St.. Andrew's Church, to which the Key. J. Milne bas gone. The officers of the Lands department have scheduled the settlero' statements ot losses by the recent bush fires ia the Wellington country districts as follow :— 3OB buildings destroyed, 10,553 sheep, 37 cattle, and other stock of minor amounts. The value of fencing destroyed was £3374-, and of grass £7020 ; the valus of houses. &c , £9286 ; other losses, £7492 ;—fcota], £30,344. Insurances amounted to £5106. About 15,350 bushels of grass seed are required to reetore the burned patches. Less than £700 has been receivsd ia subscriptions.