The Argus at KellyGang 30/12/1878 (2)
A second suggestion, which presents no legal difficulty whatever, is that the authorities should at once enlist a number of active bushman with local knowledge to serve as troopers for the time. The call addressed to the men would be lo do their duty to the state, and we should apprehend that it would be responded to. The pay would of course be high, the prospect of rewind would be great, and the period of engagement would not be long. On such terms energetic station hands, with equal bush knowledge to the marauders, could, we should suppose, be enlisted, and the skill obtained in tracking cattle could be turned to account in finding men. The force would then be strengthened in the element in which it is admittedly deficient at the present juncture, and the public would have more hopes than it has just now of the gang being met with. And the difficulty of meeting with them is the one obstacle.
If the gang made its escape from experienced men it would scarcely be without some loss, and once horses are disabled or men are wounded tracking becomes comparatively easy. At all events we submit that the operations conducted up to date should be improved upon. The last step taken, to send up the local artillerymen to the range townships, was right enough so I far as it went, but it only amounted to protecting property which had been left unprotected, and did not directly strengthen the search. As the police failed to use these townships as traps, the only thing left was to defend them openly, but this is a negative and not an active measure, and action against the offenders is what is required. Crime is only to be stamped out by punishment following offence as an absolute certainty, and the longer the gallows is deprived of its due in this case, the more encouragement is given to lawlessness in the ranges, and even-so widespread are effects-to larrikinism in the towns. Every citizen, we are sure, sees the need of fresh efforts to capture the murderers, which need not be gigantic, but which should have a prospect of striking home.
With regard to the detective force, the strictest of our correspondent "Asmodeus" in our issue of Wednesday last will suggest the possibility of improvement there. His charge is that secrecy is never thought of, and that the authorities seem even to take pains to make the criminal class familiar with the detectives. Thus, while it is necessary that the detectives should see all the prisoners at the Melbourne watch house, with a view of recognising them if there is anything against them in the past, or of identifying them with any offence in the future, it by no means follows that the suspected criminal should be made personally acquainted with all the detectives. Arrangements by which the detectives could see without being seen could easily be made, and this our correspondent alleges is only one instance of stupidity in the management. It would not be just until after inquiry to impute personal blame. The circum- stances of the colony have greatly changed of late years. On the one hand our large cities have called into existence a class of crimes which have to be dealt with by an intelligence of one kind, and on the other hand rugged districts have been allowed to become the haunts of dangerous and desperate characters who require the employment of means of a totally different kind. The police force as a whole will have to be adapted to the situation.
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