Royal Commission report day 28 page 2

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The Royal Commission evidence for 9/6/1881

(full text transcription)

(see also introduction to day 28)

Insp William B. Montfort giving evidence

10999 Do they keep in good health?— In very good health, and never enter a public—house, that I am aware of. They never drink. There is no difficulty in controlling them at all.

11000 What pay are they getting?— Five shillings a day, and find themselves in everything.

1100l Are they kept away from the barracks?— They live in a little brick house, but they mess in the barracks, and are usually about in the barracks.

11002 Do you think they would be satisfied if they were separated—would they fret?— I do not think it would be a good plan, especially when we have railroads to send them to any point desired.

11003 You do not think it would be desirable to put two at one station and two at another, say?— No.

11004 You think it better to keep them massed together, and send out two or three when necessity arises?— Keep them together and send out where required.

11005 Would you send the whole of them together?— Not the whole.

11006 You consider they desire to live together?— Yes; I am guided a good deal by conversations I have with Sergeant Whelan and Kirkham, and Mr. Baber seems to take a great interest in them; in fact, they are continually under my observation since I went up there. They are men not a bit afraid to go out at night, and will go with a message anywhere at night.

11007 They are not so much use on a well—beaten track with a great deal of traffic about?— That would depend upon the freshness of the trail, I should say.

11008 There is a report here, when they were endeavoring to find the tracks of a saw, it appears they lost the tracks on a beaten road near Greta ?— Yes, of course, they are not infallible.

11009 Do you think if they had been under charge of some one who understood them better they would have picked those tracks up and followed them on?— I do not think so. In point of fact, the saws never went in that direction at all, but in a different direction altogether, in my opinion.

11010 Have you ever heard anything about the saws since they have been stolen?— I did. I heard it was supposed they were taken for spite, because Acock's sheep were killed, and he poisoned a dog that killed them. I formed that opinion after I had been there three or four days. I was told you could make armour with them.

11011 Are they not very thin?— They are thin, but the question is whether they could be shaped into armour at all. I was told by a person they could be softened specially to shape them, and then hardened again so as to make them hard, but I do not believe that was the purpose at all. I think they were taken by Acock's neighbor for the purpose of spite.

11012 Have you seen at any time any signs of insubordination amongst the black trackers?— None whatever, nor ever heard of any.

11013 Nor ever heard of any difficulty in managing them?— Not the slightest.

11014 Has Mr. Baber ever said that he had any difficulty with them in dealing with them?— I do not know of his having gone out with them lately since; what I have said he told me. The question never arose, the difficulty was never anticipated, and none arose. They worked well with him, and seemed quite flattered with his presence with them.

11015 You never experienced any difficulty in handling them in any way?— I never heard of any.

11016 From all the information you have obtained since you have been in Benalla, do you think it is possible for the blacks stationed there to be better officered, and be more amenable to what is required of them than they have been in the past, or are at present?— I can only judge of what I have seen myself I do not see any difficulty about them at all, nor have I been told of any. I questioned the persons who were in immediate contact with them, and I have judged of their demeanor myself, seeing them about the stables and station, and they have helped to unload my things when they were brought up, and when I was away and no person to take charge of the house. I sent a couple over, and they remained there till I came back; a more easily manageable set of men I never met in my life.

11017 For the purpose for which the present black trackers were brought from Queensland, have you heard any officer in the district, who had the opportunity of knowing and judging of the way in which the trackers were managed under Mr. O'Connor, express an opinion that they were better managed by him than the present under Victorian police?— I have heard all the police there say—I have spoken on the subject to Sergeant Whelan, Constable Kirkham, and, I think, I heard Mr. Baber say the same; I am not certain—that those trackers are infinitely better for general purposes than Mr. O'Connor's trackers.....

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