The article in the "Review of Reviews" for August, from the pen of Mr. C. Wilson, dealt with the superficial aspects of the recent police enquiry. With the exception of a few unimportant words, he has given a fair description of the circumstances which led up to its appointment. His profuse expression of opinion as to the qualifications of the gentlemen who formed the Commission is a more debatable matter. They are, doubtless, most estimable gentlemen; but, with one exception, their relations with the Ministry which appointed them are of such a nature as to make them unconsciously the victims of a bias which is none the less real because it does not find open expression. The humility of the poor woman who looked for even the crumbs which fell from the Master's table was a "controlling influence" in the woman's faith, whether she knew it or not. And Mr. Wilson has given sufficient details in his article in this connection to show what marked caution and wisdom was displayed by the Government, from their standpoint, in making the selection of Royal Commissioners. Tribunals so constituted are inevitable under a system which is equivalent to an accused person selecting his own judge and jury. The weakness or incapacity of the present Minister of Defence, or the characteristic administration of his predecessor, the present Premier, are as wide of the real issue as are lengthy details of the birth and subsequent experiences of the Royal Commissioners, their secretaries, or of the ex and present Commissioners of Police.

The question of public moment is, What has been proved? I propose to answer this by extracts from the evidence. With the evidence in our possession we are as competent to form an accurate judgment as a Royal Commissioner, even though he be fully armed with His Excellency's warrant of appointment.

The Original Impeachment.

In demanding the appointment of a Commission to enquire into the condition of the police force, my principal charge was that the careless and improper use of political power and patronage had demoralised and disorganised the police service of this colony. I specified a number of instances of maladministration in support of the general charges, and as a result of the definite attack upon this Department, the Ministry were compelled by the force of public opinion to concede my demand. The present Ministry has had charge of the Police Department since January 24, 1891. Under a threat of an attack, made in April, 1897, and despite the fact that, on the date referred to, the Minister of Defence declared that there were no grounds for declaring the force to be "disorganised," the Government appointed a new Commissioner of Police in June, 1897. This officer, who is a man of great experience and undoubted ability, assumed control in October, 1897. From facts within my knowledge, I had good reasons for believing that the spirit of Tammany had gripped the Police Department. To permit it to fasten its roots upon our public services, and to become the rule of our administration, would inflict a curse upon the people of this colony, and so lower the moral tone of our public life as to make a return to clean and right methods tedious and expensive. It is a matter of vital moment that a democracy which has laid the foundation of its power upon a franchise which embraces both halves of its adult population should be jealous of its honour. It is a public duty for citizens of such a State to prevent, if possible, dishonour falling upon the administration of its public affairs. These convictions explain my attitude on this question and my demand for the enquiry.

How the Police Were Appointed.

Under the Police Act of 1886 all appointments to the police force had to be made "exclusively" from men recruited from the ranks of the Permanent Artillery. This regulation was not repealed until March 18, 1897, but the Government defied the law right along, and made over sixty appointments from outside the Artillery. I propose to take the method of recruiting as the starting point for examining the official evidence. Through the refusal of the Government to pay for the services of counsel, I was compelled to attend the Commission in its travels in support of my charges against the Department. I proved conclusively that no test of fitness was applied to recruits before their enrolment in the police. Captain Coleman, who is in charge of the Permanent Artillery, gave evidence to that effect so far as men recruited from that service is concerned. Replying to questions this witness said: "The present method of admission into the Artillery is as follows:—A man presents himself at the depot, and hands in a letter, 'Please enrol So-and-So in the Permanent Artillery.' We have no know- page 324 ledge whatever of his character." What the effect of enrolling men without investigating their character has been upon the police force may be judged by the evidence of some of the most experienced Inspectors. Inspector Pender says: "I consider recruiting from the Permanent Artillery not satisfactory." Inspector Broham, Christchurch, says: "I think the most woeful mistake was made in recruiting from the Artillery." Inspector Pardy, of Dunedin, said: 'The great drawback was recruiting the men solely from the Permanent Artillery. We got a very inferior class of men from the Artillery. An odd man now and again was very fair; but, as a rule, they were very inferior men, and very unsteady men and, I am sorry to say, many of them were very urtruthful."

During the term of office of the present Ministry, every shred of administrative power has been taken from the head of the Department, Colonel Hume. It examining his chief clerk, Mr. Evans, I asked him whether the lists of recommended transfers, promotions, &c., as prepared by the Commissioner, and submitted for the Minister's signature, were altered between the time they were submitted to the Minister and being returned to the Commissioner to which he answered "Yes." This witness also said that generally appointments, transfers, and promotions were made by the Minister during Colond Hume's time. Colonel Hume himself, the ex-Commissioner, measured his subjection to Ministeria interference when he said, in reply to a question I put to him as to what effect he thought the reinstatement of a drunken constable would have on the force:—"It was not for me to think at 11; I did as I was told." Captain Russell was Defene Minister in the administration which preceded the present, and Inspector Pardy frankly admitted that: "Certainly, under Captain Russell there was very little of it. It has been worse since he retred; there is no question about that. I have not felt so much of it the last six months. Since the attack on the Department, an order has been give and it has to be obeyed." Inspector Pardy's statement was in reply to a question about the demoralising effects of political interference with the force. The New Commissioner has just presented his first report to Parliament. He has attended the sittings of the Royal Commission, and is report states in that portion referring to recruis:—"No enquiry is made, and without being seen by any police officer or by the Minister he is appointed a constable."

Absence of Training.

Accompanying this contempt for the character of the recruits we have been equally contemptuous of the men's training. No depot has existed for training recruits in a knowledge of their duties and powers. When pressed as to whether the absence of proper training would not prevent the men from protecting public interests, Colonel Hume said: "It is their own fault; that is all I can say. They are paid to know the law, and I do not see why they should not know it." Conclusive evidence was produced, proving that the men go straight on to street duty after enrolment, and had to "pick up their knowledge" of police duties and powers.

The test applied to recruits has been, Whom do you know? What can they do? rather than, What are you? What can you do? Such a test excludes merit, and must, if persisted in, prove excessively injurious to the best interests of the public service.

A return prepared shows that the total strength of the force on January 1, 1898, was 533, of whom 311 were Protestants and 222 Roman Catholics. This gives Catholics 41 per cent, of the police, although they form only 14 per cent, of the total population. In view of the large number of publicans who are licencees of hotels, this fact to some extent explains the lax administration of the licensing laws, to which I refer later on.

Transfers.

Numerous instances similar to the one quoted could be given. The general effect upon the force of this political control may be judged by the evidence given by Inspector Broham, who said:—"The powers of inspectors have been very much curtailed of late years. Formerly, inspectors had authority to remove within their own districts all sergeants and constables from station to station. That power was taken from them. They have not been consulted of late years regarding promo- page 325 tions, nor as to the transfer of men under their charge. They know nothing whatever of the transfers until the men are told to go to different places, everything being controlled from Wellington. The constables knew that the inspectors' 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."

Other inspectors spoke to an exactly similar effect as to the evil results which have followed the conversion of the police force into a medium for conferring patronage in the interests of the political party, and such a system, if continued, must inevitably produce a state of corruption in this colony such as the unrestrained operation of the same causes, under Tammany, produced in New York, and which has made the New York police force the reproach of the civilised world. Pages of evidence on this point could be quoted, all of which might be summarised in the candid admission of ex-Inspector W. G. Fox, of Invercargill, who said: "I believe, on my oath, the men, from the inspectors down to the lowest rank, were afraid to do their duty."

With a force recruited without enquiry being made into their character, intelligence, or education of its members; with policemen who receive no training before being placed on the public streets; with a Commissioner who is tinder the control of the political powers of the hour, and whose helplessness is measured by his declaration, "It was not for me to think at all, I did as I was told "; with the "spirit of disobedience and insubordination in the ranks," what description of administration has been recorded?

I quote several cases briefly:—

Maladministration.

The inspector's report to which the magistrate referred was as follows:—"I cannot express an opinion as to this man's fitness to conduct an hotel; he was dismissed from the force for immoral conduct." After the Commissioner had had several communications with his subordinates, and two days after the magistrate had explained the reasons for refusing to issue the licence, the inspector sent the magistrate a telegram:—" Re——licence for public house. I beg to withdraw all objections, having made further inquiries. I believe he will make an excellent publican." On the same day the magistrate issued the certificate for the licence. The effect of this case upon the character of the police, who had been forced by the will of their political masters to participate in the affair, may easily be imagined. They would have no shadow of doubt as to how they were to act in future in a similar case!

In another case a constable with a very fluctuating record, who had been described by the stipendiary magistrate as either "very untruthful, or deficient in intelligence," made application to his inspector for admission into the detective branch of the service. The inspector reported to the Commissioner as follows:—"In justice to the service, I cannot recommend it; to place him at an important station like Invercargill would be very detrimental to the service, and unfair to the public, who look to the police for protection." Commissioner Hume stated that, despite this report from the inspector, the Minister of Defence, at the instigation of Mr. Millar. M.H.R. for Dunedin, gave instructions that the constable was to go into the detective service, and he went. After experience of the man, Inspector Pardy stated that there was no man in New Zealand less fitted for detective work than the one thus appointed.

The Police and Drink.

It was admitted by a number of policemen in one city that they had for years frequented a certain brewery at night, and that on occasions liquor was taken from the brewery to the police barracks. The undue familiarity of many police with the publican interests was clearly demonstrated. On June 21, 1892, a sergeant of police was dismissed for having been drunk and attempting to break into a private dwelling. In February of the same year he was severely reprimanded for having been found asleep at mid-day in the public street. When reporting the man to the Defence Minister, the Commissioner said, "He is unfit for further service in the force." On June 28—seven days after the dismissal—one of the wealthy brewers of Wellington, who finds a large portion of the election expenses for Govern- page 326 ment candidates in Wellington, wrote to the Premier on the sergeant's behalf. On July 5 the man was reinstated, but in a lower grade. In a few months, as a result of petition and representations from Members of Parliament, the man was promoted one step, and in August, 1893, at the instigation of Mr. Guinness, M.H.R., he was again promoted and given charge of a station. As against this special treatment, it was proved that many men, with clean records, have been kept for twelve years for their first step of promotion, and intense dissatisfaction existed throughout the force because of such exhibitions of favouritism.

Another constable was reported as on sick leave in December, 1896, suffering from "severe debility." I produced extracts from the hospital books showing that the man was in the hospital suffering from delirium tremens at the time. The inspector admitted he knew the man was undergoing treatment for chronic alcoholism at the time he returned him as suffering from "debility." the inspector did report this man on another occasion to the Commissioner as being "a tippler, and having the appearance of a set," but the Commissioner said he did not take any action as he did not regard this as a "charge." It would be interesting to know what would constitute "misconduct," under such rule as that. In December, 1896, this constable was in the hospital with delirium tremens; in February, 1897, he was promoted to first-class constable; in June, 1897, he was fined £1 for being in an hotel drinking whilst in uniform; and with the knowledge in their possession, is it any wonder that discontent should exist amongst the decent men in the force?

In another case Captain Russell, who was Mr. Seddon's predecessor in the Defence Office, dismissed a mar for having been found helplessly drunk just after noon on the Christchurch racecourse. Thousands of people were present. Mr. Seddon became Defence Minister within three months of this constable's dismissal; he had been on friendly terms with the constable on the West Coast before his star rose in the political firmament. Within a few weeks of getting power, he reinstated this friend in his old rank, and placed him in the same district where he had misbehaved himself! In certain cases it was proved that punishments recorded on constables' defaulters' sheets by the inspectors, had been cancelled by the Defence Minister, without consultation with the inspector imposing them, and in one case a punishment inflicted by the Commissioner himself was removed by a direct order of the Minister, without consultation with the Commissioner. In several cases where men had been retired on compensation (there is no pension fund in New Zealand), they were reinstated upon the understanding that the moneys received as retiring allowances would be refunded; but they were not refunded, and the Department permitted the men to defy the agreement to refund.

Gambling.

Then the local police took action against the gamester, but the summons was withdrawn by the Minister of Defence and the Commissioner of Police upon a letter being received from the local M.H.R. Amongst the voluminous correspondence which passed, one letter from the Inspector of Police (who had replaced the officer whose report is quoted above), stated that "strong efforts would be made during the coming session of Parliament to legalise the game." This scandalous connivance with law-breaking was still resisted by the public, and upon the Commissioner receiving a letter threatening a Parliamentary exposure of the affair, and a petition demanding the suppression of the game from 456 residents in the town, the police took action against the man, and secured a conviction, and the stoppage of the game. Tammany corrupts justice to serve political and private interests, and the case quoted is more than a shadow of the American curse—it is the thing itself.

The Licensing Question

Inspectors Pardy and Cullen, two of the most capable and esteemed inspectors in the colony, stated they had both been removed for doing their duty in regard to the enforcement of the licensing laws. Sergeants and constables made the same statements, and showed that the threats of removal made by publicans were followed by the removal almost immediately. Mr. Northcroft, stipendiary magistrate, said:—"For some years past, political influence had undermined the whole of the value of the force. Specific cases of that kind had come under his notice." This witness was followed by inspectors, sergeants, constables, lawyers, and other citizens, who affirmed the same fact, and quoted chapter and verse in support of their opinion. We have six inspectors in this colony. The examination of one of them was a pitiable sight. Another inspector was on his trial for being of "drunken habits, and addicted to gambling." the Crown Prosecutor, barristers, surveyors, commercial men, six police officers, business people, and others, all testified to having at various times and places seen the inspector the worse for drink, and several reliable witnesses detailed when and where they had gambled with him for stakes, usually at the solicitation of the inspector. In his defence the inspector admitted the gambling habits. In the course of this case I proved that he had been warned by the Committee of the Working Men's Club, of which he was a member, for having gambled contrary to the rules on the club premises, and that his resignation followed almost immediately. Several of the witnesses swore to having seen this inspector absolutely drunk. His habits for years past have been matters of notoriety, but he was an old friend of the present Premier on the West Coast, and, despite his conduct, was recently promoted to the rank of first-class inspector.

It would be superfluous to quote evidence to show the failure to enforce the licensing laws, it was voluminous, and came from all classes; it is corroborated by the new Commissioner of Police in his report, just handed to Parliament, in which he Bays that, unless the law is amended, he cannot undertake to satisfactorily administer the liquor laws. Whilst recognising and admitting the extreme difficulty of enforcing liquor laws in licensing districts, the same excuses cannot be urged by the police for the failure to prevent sly grog-selling in the King country and the Clutha. The King country is the special abode of the Maori race, and is a prohibited area by statute; the Clutha is a prohibited area, as a result of a popular vote. Evidence from doctors, schoolmasters, farmers, justices of the peace, police, and magistrates, proved conclusively that the enforcement of the prohibitory law was spasmodic and reluctant. The terms of intimacy existing between the brewing interests and the present Ministry, and the power the liquor interests exert over the administration, explain the unsatisfactory condition of things in the King country and Clutha. My contention is, that no vested or other interest must be permitted to grip our executive powers. The administration must be for the State, and not for sections.

"No Licence" and Its Effects.

Not only has crime generally shrunk in the ratio approaching the decrease in drunkenness, but vagrancy, indecent exposure, threatening language, cruelty to animals, and obstructing the police, are offences which do not appear in the calendar for the three and a half years since the hotels were closed If more drink is consumed in the Clutha since "No Licence" was voted, where are the evidences?

I could quote case after case to show the dangerous moral tone of the police administration during the past seven years similar to those already given, but space forbids. A considerable batch of the men whose drunken habits I specially referred to when speaking on this matter in the House of Representatives last year have since been dismissed. The new Commissioner, who is worthy of every confidence, is a direct product of the attack upon the Department of last year. There can be no doubt that his appointment was made in the page 328 hope that it would stave off an investigation into the Department; when that hope was not realised, every effort was mad? to render the inquiry abortive. Between the appointment of the Royal Commission and the taking of evidence over seventy policemen of various ranks were promoted, equal to about a seventh of the complete force. The lack of promotion had been a strong grievance with the men, and many men who desired to prefer a complaint about delayed promotion were amongst my witnesses in support of other charges against the administration; but their promotion sealed their lips.

A Hard Fight.

The odds I had to contend with have been heavy. The extreme reluctance of private citizens to give evidence, the stolid opposition of the officialism impreached, and, worse than all, the positive refusal of the present Minister of Defence, and the Premier, who was his predecessor, to give evidence. These two witnesses were possessed of the facts which were necessary, and in some cases essential, to complete sections of evidence. In many cases they only could tell the Commission why certain extraordinary things had been done. Although they were the trustees of the public documents, and alone possessed a knowledge as to the secret methods connected with the administration of the past seven years, they refused to give a word of evidence. No precedent was quoted in support of their refusal; I showed that they had tendered themselves as witnesses before another Royal Commission during the last four years. It is natural to conclude that the fear of exposure is the only reason for the Ministers' actions.

A summary of the matter is as follows:—This Ministry has been in power for nearly eight years, it has controlled the largest and most pliant majorities on record in this colony; its desire has never been questioned by its followers. Eight years is more than sufficient time to discover defects in any department. The late Commissioner made strong complaints every year about the unsatisfactory state of things, but absolutely nothing was done to remedy matters until a public exposure of the maladministration was inevitable, then haste is made to change the Commissioner, and in theory a measure of control is given him which has all along been denied to his predecessor. I submit that I have fully justified the demand for the appointment of the Royal Commission, and the expense of its inquiry.

I regard New Zealand as a veritable Land of Promise. Whatever of song, of art, of industry, of heroism, or of prosperity and knowledge has been won by the Britain of the North will be excelled in the days to come by the more richly endowed and loyal Britain of the South, and one of the chief concerns of citizens to-day should be the laying of strong, clean foundations for our public institutions and for our methods of administration. Such a condition of things as I claim has been proved to have been tolerated in the police force of this colony can only lead to a deterioration of our public services, and, believing that the recent inquiry will destroy largely the evil growth it was designed to attack, I feel that a full justification exists for my share in this inquiry.