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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Police Department

Police Department.

The Canterbury And North Otago Police District extends from Kaikoura in the north to Hampden in the south. There are thirty-six police stations in the district manned by 106 members of the force of all ranks. The staff comprises: Inspector Robert James Gillies (in charge), Sub-Inspector Black, and Sergeants Dougan, Kelly, and Sheehan, stationed at Christchurch; Sergeant Burke (Sydenham), Sergeant Warring (Timaru), Sergeant King (Oamaru), Sergeant Rutledge (Lyttelton), and Sergeant Barlow (Ashburton). The detective staff consists of Chief Detective Chrystall and Detectives Livingstone, Marsack, Bailey, and page 151 Fahey. At the Christchurch Police Station there is a Matron, Mrs McBride, who also acts as inspector of houses under the Infant Life Protection Act. There are 111 licensed houses within the district, each of which is entitled to take in from one to four infants.

Mr. Robert James Gillies, Inspector of Police for the Canterbury District, landed in Auckland in 1874. He joined the police force in the ensuing year, and has remained in it ever since. Mr. Gillies has been in almost all parts of the colony, and has travelled up and down on many special missions. About 1878 he was sent to take charge of the station at Te Awamutu, in the Waikato, where he remained for seven or eight years. It was during his residence there that he successfully planned and carried out one of the smartest arrests ever made in this colony. A young man named Pecker, who had come from England to reside at Epsom, Auckland, was brutally murdered by a Maori named Winiata. The murderer got away to the King Country, and remained there for several years. Ultimately, however, he was arrested by Mr. Gillies, and was brought to justice, and sentenced to the extreme penalty of the law. In consequence of this the residents of the Waikato presented Mr. Gillies with an address setting forth their appreciation of his courage and resourcefulness, and his services were also recognised by the Covernment. He was transferred from the Waikato to the charge of the Devonport station, near the city of Auckland, and in 1889 was placed in charge of the Thames and goldfields sub-district, where he remained about nine years. At the end of 1898 he was promoted to be inspector in the Wanganui and West Coast district of the North Island. In the early part of 1902 he was promoted to the inspectorship of Canterbury, and enterea on his duties at Christchurch at the end of March, 1902.