H.—l6b.

Work done for other Departments. I think it is as well here to draw attention to the very large amount of work that is done by the police for other Departments. I doubt if the extent of that work is fully realised. Ido not, of course, in any way refer to work that would strictly be considered as coming within the description of ordinary police duty, but mainly to " inquiry " work, which apparently is cast upon the police as possessing special facilities for doing it. The greater part of this class of work is apparently done for the Education Department, and very valuable work it is too. Inspector Ellison deals very fully with the matter on page 480 of the evidence. Ido not see how a great deal of this work could be done otherwise than through the police, but I certainly do think that the work as at present done casts a very unnecessary amount of labour on the Inspectors and their staffs. I am not prepared to make any recommendation on the matter, but I draw attention to it, because I believe that, if work of this class continues to increase, special provision must be made for doing it. Sir E. O. Gibbes, in his evidence on page 457 et seq., gave some replies to questions asked by myself and Inspector Ellison which seem to open up the question of the quality and effect of the work done which might justify some further consideration. Finger-print Branch. The Commissioner deserves credit for the high state of efficiency to which he has brought the Finger-print Branch of the service. I must, however, take exception to his statement that he established the branch. Such a branch had been established before Mr. Dinnie came to New Zealand. It was under the charge of Mr. R. Lascelles Ward, and was attached to the Prisons Department. It was handed over to the control of the Police Department on the Bth July, 1903, and in a letter from the Hon. Mr. McGowan, authorising the change, he gives as a reason that the identification of criminals falls naturally within the province of the police. Mr. E. W. Dinnie, the present Finger-print Expert, who is a son of the Commissioner, was first employed on the 6th July, 1903, as an assistant to Mr. Ward, at Bs. per diem. This was increased to 10s. per diem as from the Ist October, 1904, and later, on the recommendation of the Commissioner, his son was permanently appointed Finger-print Expert and Photographer as from the Ist October, 1906, at a salary of £180 per annum (vide New Zealand Gazette, 1906, page 2657). . . There are two officers who figure in the appropriations as experts. Ine principal expert (Mr. Dinnie) receives a salary of £200 per annum. His assistant, who ranks as a detective, receives in all, with allowances, £228. The former cannot be said to be overpaid, for his duties are important and responsible, and it is undoubtedly through his exertions mainly that the branch has become so valuable an adjunct to our criminal system. I understand that a constable is now assisting in the branch, and no doubt qualifying for a complete knowledge of the system. It seems to me very important that there should be a succession of officers qualifying in knowledge for the discharge of duties in connection with this branch. One is told with bated breath that the work is so special, so important, and so difficult that there is the greatest danger in interfering at all so as to secure an extension of a knowledge of the system. Being a mere layman who possesses only a superficial knowledge of the work of the branch, I am not going to be the proverbial fool who blunders in where the angels even fear to tread. I therefore limit myself to the humblest suggestion that occasionally a suitable man might be taken in, with such technical knowledge of photography, &c, as would make him useful with a view to training him to take the place of those who in course of time will be going out of the branch. House Allowance. Married constables are paid, where there are no quarters, a weekly house allowance of 7s The sergeants similarly receive 10s. 6d. a week. Rents have gone up so enormously of late years that I think the time has arrived when these allowances should be increased, and especially so in the case of married

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