AN EVENTFUL CAREER.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 77, 13 November 1911, Page 2

AN EVENTFUL CAREER.

DEATH OF EX-INSPECTOR FEN i)ER. Iv; .11 y people ill Wellington, as in other parts of Now Zealand, will learn with regret of the death of oxh.'. specter Pender, J.P., at Christchurch (says Wellington Post.) it is nearly ten years since he retired from the position of inspector of Police u’t Wellington, where he spent the last decade of his long term in office. Since then lie has enjoyed well-earn-ed rest at Sumner, Christchurch, with members of Ids family. When Mr Pender retired on superannuation on 31st May, 1902. the “Post” commented that the countiy “was losing one of its most able and conscientious officers.” An appreciative sketch of liis career continued : “In Ireland, in the Crimea, in Victoria, and in Now Zealand, he has loft behind him an 'untarnished record, marked by able and faithful service. He has won' the' Crimean modal,- uith the Sebastopol clasp, the Suli-an of Turkey's'' medal, the New Zealand long-servicC decoration, and now, at the gnd of Ids official career extending ovet fifty-sis years, he has received the' high bondin' of a public tribute to his."worth from the Chief Justice of the colony, and is about to receive the citizens’ mark of appreciation of his services. The fact that ho lias lived 73 years has not interfered with his memory, as the case with which ho chats about old-time reminiscences shows—conversations always marked with characteristic modesty when he touches on personal adventures.

“Tile unfolding of the leaves of the Book of Time lias served to demonstrate that young seventeen-year-old Peter Pended probiddy chose the cawhich he had most natural aptitude (vhen ; life fofsohk the . peaceful pursuit of fanning, and, anxious to sec something of the world, joined the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1815. During Id's service in Ireland Ids duties brought him ‘in close contact with evictions—-one ! of the most painful experiences—The' terrible results of the famine of ’46-’47, Smith O’Brien’s insurrection) and the visit of the Queen and the Prince Consort. On this last-mentioned occasion ho was one of 500 Constabulary, all over 6ft. in height, who 'took part in a great review in Phoenix Park. It was for a clever capture of two young men and a young woman, the latter having been induced to rob her father, that Constable Ponder in 1849 was promoted to second-class sergeant’s rank. “But the blood of the rover in search of excitement ran in his veins, and when the Crimea War broke out iu 1854 he volunteered for service and went out with Lord Raglan’s Mounted Staff Corps, arriving at Balaclava three days after the battle of Inkcrman. The corps’ entrance into the harbour was a saddening one, for the water was almost thick with the many bodies of soldiers and sailors who had gone down in a terrible storm within sight of land. After the taking of Sebastopol,' at which Mr Pender was present, his corps disbanded, and he was attached to the First Royal Dragoons, with whom ho went into the interior of the Crimea and down to Scutari. He was in Turkey with Colonel Grant, engaged in tiie purchase of horses and assisting in the organisation oji the Turkish Contingent Cavalry Corps, ■ when peace was declared in

“On returning to Ireland,'Mr Pender rejoined the Constabulary as sergeant, but had not been there a month when he decided to accompany several mates'of his who were about to start!i for Australia. ThGy~£ruJcd in the American ship Sunshine from Liverpool, with some 350 passengers. Before leaving the ship had. to get some sailors from the gaol to make up a crew, and those men provided another of tiie sensational incidents with which the life of the subject of this sketch has been marked. -.They had been at sea about a week when the captain gave way to heavy drinking, and the sailors started to do much as they pleased. Three weeks later they broke out into mutiny, helped themselves to the ship’s stores, broached the cargo, spent most of their time in carousing, and finally, molested the passengers. At last things reached: such a stage and the •danger of lire was so imminent that something had to be done. Mr Pender and his mates, three of’them Crimean war men and three who were in the Irish Constabulary* together with five returning diggers and the ship’s mate and surgeon, armed themselves, and Mr Pender was appointed captain. At daybreak on a Monday morning the passengers wero told what it was proposed to do, and a large number—including, by the way, Mr Rudd, of the Government Life Insurance Department in Christchurch—joined in. The formidable armed party then lined npj and going to the fo’csle called on the crew to surrender. At first they refused to do so, but, seeing that the passengprs were not to ho trilled with, they submitted to the inevitable and wero handcuffed. All but fifteen, however, were released a little later, as it. appeared that the fifteen had terrorised the others into acting with them. On arrival at Melbourne the prisoners wore handed over to Sergeant Joyce (father of the late member for Lyttelton), who was then in charge of the Williamstown Water Police. There was some legal difficulty, however, as the crew'were Americans, and ultimately the prosecution had to bo dropped. “One morning at the end of 1850 the pendcr party, started to ‘swag it’ some 250 miles to Beech worth, in the Ovens district, where three of them including the leader, wore induced to join the police by Mr Robert O’Hara Burke, the local Superintendent of Police (and later of Burke and Willis expedition fame). They served in Melbourne for a time* and later Mr Pender was stationed at Beechworth, where ho wont through some of the stirring times of the goldfields, and was promoted to the position of ser-gcant-in-charge at Vackadanduh, a notoriously rough station where many of the ticket-of-leave convicts wero sent. There wore many rowdy scenes for suppression* and on one occasion Sergeant Pender and a Constable Popper had a personal encounter with two bushrangers (Jones and Osborne) in the hush, and whilearresting one Pender was thrown from bis horse and sustained a broken collarbone. The two men were secured, lion ever, and in recognition of the sendee rendered the country a squatter gave the two officers £SO between them, and the Commissioner of Police sent them congratulatory telegrams and €lO each. Jones was a magnificent horseman, and considered the best rough rider in the district. He was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, and while in gaol was left a large fortune in Wales, of which he was enabled to take, advantage by being released some years before the completion of his term. There were plenty of exciting experiences about this period. !t was then that the notorious Kelly gang was beginning to make its pres-mee felt. Steele, who arms ted Ned Kelly, was the officer who took Sergeant Ponder's place when the latter, in re-

ply to telegram from headquarters, exprcscd his willingness to go to Canterbury to assist with three others in the reorganisation of the police force there. “It was on 15th July, 18G2, that Sergeant Pender landed at Lyttelton with Mr Shearman, and came over the bridle track of the Port, which was covered with frost and snow. It was isoon found that the existing police wore, as a body, quite incapable of dealing with the rough element in the place. Most of them were discharged, and their places taken by Victorian and New South Wales officers, with the result that there was soon a decided improvement. Inspector Pender relates with much gusto incidents which speak for themselves as to the condition things were in in those days. Here is a typical instance of the methods adopted for the ‘preservation’ of order. He was one day walking along, arrayed in his new uniform, when a citizen came up to him and said, ‘You had better come up here, I think.’ The officer went to the place indicated, and saw a great crowd in front of the White Hart Hotel, the verandah of which was then a popular rendezvous for the troublesome element. Pushing his way through the shouting and cheering crowd, he was astonished to geo one of the constables in uniform, though with his coat off, having a willing fight with another individual who had dared to insult the majesty of the law. The newly-arrived officer ordered the constable to stop, and took him to the police station, where he was discharged from the force. “Mr Ponder was made a SergeantMajor soon after his arrival, and within two years was appointed. Inspector of the Canterbury district, succeeding Inspector Guinness (father of Mr Guinness, M.H.H., Groyraouth) who wont to Akaroa to organise a force there, and was subsequently made a Magistrate. Mr Shearman was. promoted to the position of Commissioner. He and Inspector Pender, acting under instructions resulting from the persistent outcry of the public, organised an escort to bring gold from Hokitika to Christchurch, as the journey was a risky one. The men chosen for this journey were nearly all of highly respectable families at Home, but at about that time steamer communication was being made greater use of, and the work of connecting the West Coast with Christchurch by a road was commenced, so that the gold escort was never called upon, and its members were enrolled in the Police Force. “In 1874 Inspector Pender took charge at Timaru, returning to Christchurch in 1882. At that time there was a large amount of crime there, due to criminal visitors from '\ew South Wales and Victoria, and in gradually clearing the place of these characters the Inspector received valuable assistance from a small but thoroughly efficient detective force. Nine years and three months ago Mr Ponder came to Wellington. Hero, as in other places where the lias been stationed, he rapidly won the confidence and respect of ail classes, and there is no doubt he will retain it to the last.”

The late Inspector Pender leaves a grown-up family of two sons and four daughters. The sons are Mr Arthur Pender, of Wellington, and Mr Frank Pender, of the Bank of New Zealand, Ashburton. The daughters arc Mrs Lee, of Sumner, and Misses Grace, Mary and Eileen Pender, who are living at Christchurch.