THE PROPOSED INQUIRY. WELLINGTON. June 21.

Otago Witness, Issue 2883, 23 June 1909, Page 33

THE PROPOSED INQUIRY. WELLINGTON. June 21.

During the time that Mr H. W. Bishop. 5.M.,. is engaged in the work of the Police Commueion his magisterial duties at Christchurch will be carried out by District Judge Haselden.

The terms of the commission have not yet been decided upon, but it is understood that they will afford the commissioner every facility for making the inquiry as full and comprehensive as possible. It seems likely that the inquiry will be open to the press and that it will be officially reported. There is one phase of the subject which will probably receive a good deal of attention during the inquiry, and that is the principle of staffing followed in connection with the commissioner's office. The present system is that the staff con?i«ts of men holding the ranks of subinspector, chief detective, and so on down the scale. Some members of the police force engaged on what may be called the more active work, and especially the " street " and detective work, urge that men engaged in a purely clerical capacity under the commissioner should rank :n the civil service not as members of the force, but as civil servants.. The foice, they argue, consists of a certain number of men of each class, from in&pectors downward, but if some of any particular rank are engaged on purely office work that must necessarily throw more work on to the shoulders of the men who are engaged in the actual "law and order " portion of the business. It is urged that by such a eystem unnecessary and sometimes unpleasant questions of seniority arise, which could be avoided if rank was not a consideration in regard to the head office staff.