The Argus at KellyGang 29/3/1881 (2)
INQUIRY INTO THE STATE OF THE POLICE FORCE
The Royal commission appointed by the Government to inquire into and report upon the state of the police force - an inquiry considered necessary by the comparative immunity which the Kelly gang of bushrangers so long enjoyed - has begun to take evidence. The commission consists of Messrs Longmore (chairman), Graves, Hall, Fincham, Anderson, and Gibb, MLA's , and Messrs EJ Dixon and GC Levey. Nearly all of these are men who have never individually shown any such special ability or business tact as might be supposed to be requisite in the members of a commission appointed to conduct an investigation of this sort, and although it is too early to judge of the competence of the board as a body, it having only sat m public three times, still, so far, nothing has occurred to warrant the formation of sanguine expectations as to the result of its labours.
Two witnesses have given evidence, viz, Captain Standish, late chief commissioner of police, recently superannuated, and Mr CH Nicolson, the acting chief commissioner. These gentlemen have given their narratives of the proceedings of the police in connexion with the Kelly gang, from the first outrage to its destruction at Glenrowan. They were asked a few questions by the committee, but their cross-examination has been postponed until the official and full report of their evidence has been printed. What they have already said, however, tends to diminish any feeling of surprise that might have been felt here and elsewhere at the circumstance that, for nearly two years, the police were unable to capture the bushrangers, although the latter were m the heart of the colony. There was not only an absence of co-operation amongst the leading police officers, but a feeling of mutual hostility evidently had taken possession of them.
The Kelly gang, it may be remembered, consisted of four young persons, viz , Edward and Dan Kelly, Joe Byrne, and Steve Hart. The two former were brothers, and the two latter had been their companions before they took to bushranging. In October, 1878, the gang surprised a party of four police sent to capture them, and murdered three of the constables, the fourth escaping. It was not until the end of June that the gang was captured at Glenrowan. Ned Kelly, the leader, was the only one taken alive, the other three being killed. Ned Kelly was in due course hung. Captain Standish, in his evidence, stated :-
"With regard to the causes which led to the out-break of the Kelly gang of bushrangers, the North-eastern district had for a number of years been the haunt of horse and cattle stealers, who gave the police force much trouble. In those days no such outrages were perpetrated as had occurred in the last two or three years, but there was a wholesale system of cattle-duffing. This culminated in the disturbance at Greta, when Constable Fitzpatrick went out there to serve a warrant on Dan Kelly for horse-stealing.
Greta was the home of the Kellys, and on this occasion Constable Fitzpatrick arrested Dan Kelly, but was shot by Ned and over- powered, but allowed to escape. Besides the two Kelly there were implicated in the outrage Byrne and Hart, and also Mrs. Kelly, mother of the two bushrangers of that name, and other persons, some of whom, including Mrs. Kelly, were soon afterwards arrested and heavily punished. The Kelly gang escaped and took to the bush, and were evideutly determined to wreak vengeance on the police. Captain Standish went on to relate how the gang murdered the three constables near Mansfield, in October, 1878, and the subsequent proceedings in connexion with the pursuit, and the causes which in his opinion led to that pursuit being so fruitless for a long time. Amongst these causes were the enormous number of residents of the district who sympathised with the out- laws, and the terrorism inspired amongst the other residents by the gang and its sympathisers. After the Mansfield outrage, Captain Standish immediately sent Mr Nicolson, then assistant commissioner of police, to take charge of the Kelly operations in the North- eastern district. The gang robbed a bank at Euroa, in December, 1878. Captain Standish then took charge of the operations, relieving Mr Nicolson, who was knocked up, and transferred to Melbourne. Mr Nicolson's style of procedure did not satisfy Captain Standish, who considered that he had not taken such precautions as prudence should have suggested. For instance, a fortnight before the Euroa bank was stuck up, information was received by the police that the gang contemplated a step of that kind. Captain Standish deposed, -
"I am given to understand that, although Mr Nicolson was aware it was intended to stick up a bank, he never gave information to the local bank managers that such a thing was contemplated. It would have been wise for him to instruct the telegraph masters. In the district to give notice to tho police when telegraph lines were interrupted. Consequent on his not doing so a splendid chance of capturing the outlaws was lost. "
With regard to the telegraph lines, it may be explained that, when the gang robbed the bank at Euroa, they cut the teleeraph wires, so as to delay the news of the outrage. Captain Standish remained in immediate charge of the operations for over six months, without, however, capturing the gang. One of the oflicers under him was Sub-inspector O'Connor, a Queensland native police officer, whose services, together with six aboriginal trackers, had been secured by the Victorian Government, against the recommendation, however, of Captain Standish. This is how Captain Standish spoke of Mr O'Connor :-
"Mr O'Connor's letter, dated September 7, 1880, which is included in the papers submitted to the commission, is full of misrepresentations. He states that during the 10 months he was here I treated him with the greatest discourtesy. To that I give the lie direct. For several months after he first came here we lived together, and always on the best of terms, but when I found out about him things I do not wish to here state, I closed my intimacy with him. I could state things which would prove what an utterly unreliable man he is."
It may be here mentioned that Captain Standish was pressed to speak further in this connexion, and that he then impugned Mr O'Connor's private conduct, but immediately afterwards applied to withdraw his reflections on Mr O'Connor's private character. About June, 1879, Captain Standish returned to Melbourne, and again sent up Mr Nicolson to the North-eastern district, although, as Captain Standish said, " I had little faith in his energy." Mr Nicolson remained in charge of the North-eastern district until May, 1880, or about a month before the Glenrowan affair, when his connexion with the Kelly operations was finally severed. Captain Standish ridiculed the plan of operations adopted by Mr Nicolson during this period, stated that his reports were " twaddle," that he neglected to act on reliable information but employed spies, who laughed at him, and that he was "discourteous, insolent, and ungentlemanly." Being asked by the commission when he lost confidence in Mr Nicolson, he replied, "in the early part of 1880."
Mr Nicolson, in his narrative, defended his own and condemned some of Captain Standish's proceedings. One incident may be selected from his statement to show the disorganisation and want of harmony that prevailed amongst the officers In November, 1878, when Mr Nicolson was in immediate charge of the district. Captain Standish happened to be there also, and received information that some of the gang had visited a house at Sebastopol. Captain Standish, Mr Nicholson, and Mr Sadleir, superintendent of police, subordinate to Mr Nicolson, proceeded with a large body of men to the place. According to Mr Nicolson, Captain Standish and Mr Sadleir rode together, and did not tell him what the information was which led to the journey being undertaken until they got close to the house. Moreover, the body of police was absurdly large, numbering 50 men, and the noise they made in riding could be heard a mile off. Mr Nicolson knew it was useless to search for the gang with such a large party, but he did not know by whose orders they were congregated together, nor did he protest against taking so many. It is scarcely necessary to add that the bushrangers were not captured on that occasion.
The commission meet again to-day.
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