The Argus at KellyGang 9/4/1883 (4)
ROYAL COMMISSION
Final Report - XXI continued
The attendance of that gentleman was accordingly requested before the commission, he being at the same time furnished with a copy of the evidence upon Mr Call, when interrogated, declined to answer any question relating to the discharge of his magisterial functions, adding that as soon as the commission had terminated their labours he proposed to bring the evidence given by the witness Bourke under the notice of the Government. Your commissioners did not deem it desirable to press the witness further upon this point. The matter, however, should not be allowed to rest here. If senior constable Bourke has been guilty of falsehood or gross exaggeration, he deserved to be severely punished; and if on the other hand, he is able to substantiate his statements, then Mr Call is not a proper person to be entrusted with the discharge of the important duties appertaining to his position, and should not be retained in the service a single day. Bourke implies that the City Bench is open to extraneous and extra judicial influences. Numerous hotels are held by dummies who act for brewers and wine and spirit merchants. "When the licence of a house is jeopardised, the owner, the broker, the merchant, and licensee work their influence with the bench," (1,086) "or with the friends of the bench, on behalf of the hotel." The witness adds that he cannot prove these serious allegations; but he persists in urging that he knows them to be true nevertheless, else, it is urged, how could notoriously disreputable persons continue for years to hold licences. This witness adds (1,083) - "If a constable in prosecuting, states what he sees, the solicitor tackles him, and for the simplest error comes at you, and the magistrates are glad of the chance. They dispose of the case, and turn round and look at the constable as though he were a dog. I think the law is good enough, but it is the mal administration. The prosecutions are sometimes commenced by one officer and before one set of magistrates and finished by others who, possibly are not seised of the facts deposed to in the first instance, and in this way the police fail in obtaining a satisfactory decision from the bench. The bench do not co-operate with the police also as regards larrikins; and this state of things is likely to continue, as influence is always likely to be brought to bear." Sergeant Dalton is somewhat more guarded in his statements upon this point, and considers that the failure of the police in obtaining convictions and in having licences cancelled is owing to the tactics of the legal practitioners who appear before the bench, and who generally browbeas the officers conducting the cases, and insult the witnesses called for the prosecution Sergeant Daly agrees with this view, and asserts that "the fact of the magistrates falling to co-operate with the police" (2,756) "acted as a damper upon the men's efforts. If the police," he adds, "were properly supported by the bench, larrikinism would soon disappear."
Senior constable Corbett, when asked if his experience led him to arrive at a similar conclusion, replied (3,424) "There is where you have laid the ulcer bare. The bench, owing to their leniency, are responsible for the mischief." The evidence of other witnesses serves to show that the city and other benches of magistrates require a more strict surveillance on the part of the Crown Law officers, and that a more frequent chance of police magistrates would probably be attended with beneficial results to the community.
XXII - MUNICIPALITIES AND THE POLICE
In the opinion of your commissioners, the time has not arrived in this colony when a system of municipal police could be introduced with advantage. The subject received due consideration at our hands inasmuch as it was known that local bodies in certain parts of the colony were dissatisfied with existing police arrangements, and were anxious for a modification of the same. In order to test their views, the following resolution was adopted by the commission and copies of it sent to every local body in the colony,
viz - That the secretary be instructed to communicate with the various local bodies throughout the colony, with a view to eliciting an expression of opinion upon the proposal to allow municipalities to have a voice in regulating the strength and distribution of the police force in their respective districts and to be made charge able with the cost of maintenance of any constables applied for in excess of the fixed number of those allotted, which would be based upon the population, geographical position, and general requirements of each locality." The replies received to the communications forwarded indicated in the majority of instances, an indisposition to interfere with the present system. There were several local bodied not unwilling to accept responsibility attached to assisting in regulating the number and distribution of the police in their respective localities, but a decided objection was expressed to contributing any portion of the expense of maintenance from the municipal funds.
The City Council of Ballarat was not averse to paying a moiety of the expenditure incurred by the employment of police in excess of the number amicably allotted but the advantages of such an arrangement seemed highly problematical, and enough possibly lead to confusion inseparable from a divided responsibility. Of all the Australian colonies, Tasmania alone has adopted, but only partially, the municipal system of police.
There however, it has been simply tolerated. For some time prior to the organisation of the force in Victoria , the police of Melbourne were under the control of the corporation, but with very questionable benefit either to the members of that body or to the community generally. The present force has been modelled upon that of the Irish constabulary, which has been found by experience to be the best adapted for the purposes of the colony, but the regulations of the London metropolitan police force are closely adhered to in all matters of administration and discipline. Mr James Oddie, of Ballarat, who had evidently bestowed upon the subject mature thought, propounded his opinions on the question of the municipal control of the police (5,908) at some length. Theoretically his propositions are possibly unanswerable practically, in the present state of public opinion in the colony, they could not be entertained. Your commissioners consider that it would be unwise to effect any alteration in the direction indicated
, .1. , .2. , .3. , .4. , .5. , .6. , .7. ,
| ! | The text has been retyped from a microfiche copy of the original. We have taken care to reproduce this document but areas of the original text may been damaged. |
