POLICE PROMOTIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3097, 23 July 1913, Page 10

POLICE PROMOTIONS.

THE EXAMINATION QUESTIONS. (From Ocr Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON,, July 17. In the House this afternoon Mr H. Atmorc asked the Minister of Justice, without notice, whether, in view of the general dissatisfaction and feeling of injustice existing among the non-commissioned officers in the Police Force consequent upon the recent introduction of examinations into the force as a condition precedent to promotion, ho would arrange for the rescinding of Rcgu'ations 417, 433, and 434, in so far as the present sergeants and senior sergeants of the Police Force wore concerned, and in the meantime suspend those regulations. Mr Atmorc referred to past Commissioners of Police, and stated that in many cases they had failed to pass examinations in their earlier years The lion. A, L Hcrdman said he knew of no instance in which a man had been passed over or treated unfairly. If the hon. gentleman knew of such case it was his duty to bring it under the notice of the Minister. In the second place, he knew of no general dissatisfaction and no general sense of justice existing in the force at present because the new regulations prescribed that police constables and police officers should pass an elementary education test before gaining promotion. What the hon. gentleman had said in reference to Commissioner Tunbridge and other gentlemen who had controlled the Police Force m the past might be quite accurate, but ho (Mr Hcrdman) was certain that before police officers got promotion some test should be passed by them in order that they- might prove that they were familiar with the rudiments of education. The department had had instances of men in charge of country stations who had got their accounts into a hopeless state of muddle, not because they were dishonest, but because they were uneducated and ignorant of how to keep accounts. He would be very glad tp consider all that Mr Atmore had brought under his notice, and suggested that Mr Atmore write him fully as to eases of men alleged to have been unjustly treated. Mr Atmorc thanked the Minister for bis reply, and promised to give the information desired.