The Last Five Years.

During the whole five years, I have had a large number of men physically weak; they had often to go on the sick list. A large number were not of sufficient intelligence to satisfy me, and a large number were in no way fitted for the Police duties they had to perform. There were men, too, who had no sense of duty, and in them there was no spirit of obedience. The powers of Inspectors have been very much curtailed of late years. They have not been consulted of late years regarding promotions, nor as to the transfer of men under their charge. They knew nothing whatever of the transfers until the men were told to go to the different places, everything being controlled from Wellington. The constables knew that the Inspector's powers were largely curtailed; they knew that it was not by steady attention to their duty that promotion was to be obtained or advancement given, and they sought promotion and advancement by political influence. This system directly bred insubordination and the spirit of disobedience throughout the force. The men ceased to look to their officers for advancement. The men are now appointed to the force without the Commissioner of Police or any officer of the police seeing them. The Commissioner of Police knows nothing of the men he appoints to the force. He does not see them, and no inquiry is made by anybody connected with the police regarding the character of the men who are appointed to the police force.

Inspector Pardy, Dunedin, said:—Political influence has been going on for the last twenty years. It grew so it went along. It has been the same under every Commissioner; the same under every Government for the last twenty years.

Certainly, under Captain Russell there was very little of it. It has been worse since he retired, there is no question about that. I have not felt so much of it the last six months, since the attach on the Department. An order has been given, and it has been obeyed. This political influence naturally causes men to be insubordinate. They do not have that respect for their superiors that they should have, when they know there is power behind the throne. If men know they page 26 can go to a member of Parliament and upset everything an Inspector or Commissioner directs, it is only natural they will do it repeatedly, and I cannot help seeing it.

Men have told me they would overrule me. Aitcheson did so. He has been dismissed since. Henderson, the detective, defied me in my office. He is still in the force. I was finding fault with him about something in regard to which he had neglected his duty. In fact, I had little or no control over the man while he was here. He intimated to me that he had greater power than I had. By this he means political power.

We are not worse at once—the course of evil
Begins so slowly, and from such slight source,
An infant's nand might stem its breach with clay,
But let the stream get deeper, and Philosophy—
Ay, and Religion too—shall strive in vain
To turn the headlong torrent.

If the people of the United States of America had taken a keener interest in the character of the country's administration between 1840 and 1900. If instead of the race for wealth which carried it's people in a mad rush, "Westward Ho !" there had been exercised a keen criticism of and control over the quality and tone of its political administration. American politics would not be synonymous with corruption and low cunning today.

I have pleaded for high standards for our political administration before and since entering politics, and in spite of the pitiful whinings of party apologists who describe plain speaking and hard facts as "vituperation and abuse" when such plain speaking and hard facts threaten the well-being of their political deities. I shall, I hope, not cease to discharge what I conceive to be my duty and to follow a course in politics which, although frequently an un-pleasant duty, I am convinced is in the highest interests of my own family and those of my fellow colonists.

The overhauling of the Police Department in 1898, although very costly to the taxpayer, did much good, and Commissioner Tunbridge speedily put the force on to a better footing than it had been for years previously. Let it be remembered that the evidence given before the Commission, demonstrated conclusively that the Premier had permitted the degeneracy of the force to take place during his term of office, and had in most of the cases examined accelerated the deterioration by the exercise of his will.

Seven years have not passed since the last Royal Commission investigated the police force, and yet in August, 1905, its condition is again the subject of investigation by a Royal Com-mission. Commissioner Tunbridge, it is believed, because of Ministerial interference with his authority, left the colony, and under the same Ministry the colony is again paying heavily to find the remedy for the inefficiency inseparable from the administration which controls it.