The Argus at KellyGang 17/12/1881
POLICE OFFICERS AND THE ROYAL COMMISSION
On Thursday evening Mr Grant laid before Parliament the replies received from officers of the police force to the charges brought against them by the Royal Police Commission.
Mr Nicolson does not impugn the correctness of the conclusions arrived at by the commission, excepting in so so far as they relate to himself. He contends that he cannot be held responsible for the inefficiency of the police arrangements in the North Eastern district, the late chief commissioner being responsible from the fact that he gave no heed to the reports forwarded to him in both 1872 and 1877, by the then superintending officers in charge, viz., Messrs Nicolson and Hare.
“Had those reports been acted upon, " writes Mr Nicolson, " the outbreak would not have occurred, and had it not been for the undue interference with my plans by the ex-chief commissioner and Superintendent Hare, the delay in the capture of the outlaws would not have been so great." Mr Nicolson contends that under the circumstances detailed by him he ought not to be deprived of the charge of the Police department which he held prior to the appointment of the Royal Commission.
He then proceeds to give a sketch of the "Kelly family," the "Kelly country," and "the causes which led to the outbreak." After the Wombat murders had been committed the police found it impossible to cut off supplies from the outlaws. The sympathisers evidently outmanoeuvred the police. Mr Nicolson does not state by what means he became aware of the fact, but he asserts that the outlaws never became short of provisions until they became short of money, and that did not take place until April and May, 1880, and they did not break cover until compelled by absolute want. He states further that he did not depend upon fortuitous circumstances for their capture but upon "a defined plan of operations," which, however, subjected him to obstruction, misrepresentation, and attempts to disgrace him by persons who were " incapable of conceiving or maturing any system adapted to meet the case, and who did not possess sufficient fortitude to carry out any scheme in the face of stubborn difficulties, and in the absence of meretricious applause."
In reference to the Euroa Bank robbery, Mr Nicolson affirms that there was no rumour of the likelihood of such an event prior to its occurring, and that no time was lost, practically speaking, by his going to Albury instead of Euroa, since under any circumstances the police would have had to wait for daylight the following morning, and the pursuit foiled for want of skilled trackers.
Mr Nicolson next refers to the period when Captain Standish and Superintendent Hare took charge of the pursuit. He declares that the first watch under Superintendent Hare, called a "cave party," were not concealed in a cave at all. Their place of hiding was partially screened by scrub, but the police could not occupy the place for 20 days without being discovered. It appears that the police horses were imprudently placed in Aaron Sherritt's paddock near the cave party, so that the presence of the watch was thereby indicated. Mrs Byrne's suspicions were aroused, and Sherritt never afterwards regained her confidence.
When Mr Nicolson resumed charge of the pursuit, he complains that it appeared as if it was not intended that he should capture the outlaws. Large withdrawals of police from the district took place. Mr Nicolson was compelled to pay money out of his own pocket for Government purposes, and when vacancies occurred in the force at his disposal, they were filled up with disabled men. As to following up the outlaws in the hope of riding them down, Mr Nicolson confesses he did not attempt it, and "he believes if he had done so, he would not have received applause, but the strongest efforts would have been made to procure his dismissal."
In reference to the Sherritt family, Mr Nicolson never had any confidence in them. His chief surveyor of news respecting the movements of the gang was a man who signed himself "Diseased Stock." This confidential agent gave certain valuable information to Mr Hare, at least so Mr Nicolson asserts, to which the former paid no attention. If Mr Hare had utilised the information received, and put the police on the alert, "Sherritt might have been alive still."
Finally Mr Nicolson urges that Superintendent Hare having failed to substantiate very serious charges against his superior officer (Mr Nicolson), he is, it is contended, liable to a severe penalty under the 42nd section of the Police Regulations Statute.
Mr Nicolson concludes his narrative as follows :—
"The interests of the colony never suffered at Mr Nicolson's hands; he was superseded at the time he was about to reap the fruit of his labour by one who was comparatively an amateur in the performance of the most serious, difficult, and important branches of police duty, but who had acquired a spurious reputation by favour of the ex-chief commissioner, and had succeeded in several instances in imposing upon some of the leading men in the colony.
Mr Hare's statement is a rejoinder to the four commissioners who appended to the police report the reasons why they dissented from Mr E J Dixon's protest. Mr Hare begins by denying that his official report to the commission is "a mere tissue of egotism and misrepresentation." He further denies that he was in collusion with the chief commissioner in the petty and dishonourable persecution to which Mr Nicolson was subjected, and asserts that no evidence was adduced to sustain such a charge excepting that of Mr Nicolson himself.
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