The Argus at KellyGang 7/4/1883 (3)
ROYAL COMMISSION
II – THE POLICE IN RELATION TO PUBLIC MORALITY
Final Report - continued
The opinions entertained by your commissioners respecting the general deterioration of the police force of the colony, and the imperative necessity that existed for its reorganisation, have been indicated in the several progress reports already submitted to your Excellency. The circumstances antecedent to and attending the pursuit and destruction of the Kelly gang proved that the police, as a body, had become demoralised and comparatively powerless in the face of a grave and unexpected emergency. The mal-administration of the department was no doubt the primary source of the mischief ; but the unsatisfactory relations of some superior officers, the misconduct and incapacity of others, the laxity of discipline, the vicious system pursued by the detectives, the impunity with which the law was evaded by low-class publicans, the wide-spread ramifications of public prostitution, the audacity which characterised larrikinism in every direction, and the marked increase of every species of gambling, all demonstrated that the exigencies of the service and the safety of the public demanded a thorough change in the mode of working adopted by the police.
The delegates, in giving their evidence, seemed reluctant, in most instances, to expose the laches of their officers, but as regards the grievances under which they laboured, and the improvements in the force which they deemed essential, they evinced every desire to be communicative. Nothing, however, could better illustrate the paralysed condition of the force than the evidence adduced respecting the state of the metropolis in relation to public morals. It was alleged that there is scarcely a suburb or a street in the city free from open and undisguised prostitution. Numerous hotels, situate in the immediate vicinity of the principal thoroughfares, were described as notorious brothels, the licensees of which were alleged to be no better than pandars, the barmaids employed professional harlots, and the attendants thieves and bullies. Those disreputable houses are the recognised haunts of the vicious and criminal classes, for whose accommodation they are made accessible at all hours of the day and night. In the year 1878 a select committee of the Assembly was appointed to inquire into and report upon the social evil in Melbourne . The testimony obtained was startling as regards the extent and character of the vice that prevailed, but no really practical measures were adopted by the authorities for its suppression beyond the appointment of certain plain-clothes constables for purposes of surveillance. The revelations made before your commissioners regarding the immorality that existed in the metropolis, the facilities allowed for its propagation, and the inability of the ordinary members of the police to grapple with the evil constituted a feature in the examination of several of the witnesses. A portion of the evidence was of so revolting a character that it was ordered to be expunged from the records. In addition to the large number of the low-class hotels which are annually licensed with little more than nominal opposition from the police, there are numerous private dwellings scattered throughout the city and its environs devoted to immoral purposes, which the law seems almost powerless to reach.
Larrikinism, respecting which several of the witnesses were examined, appears to be an abnormal growth, arising from the absence of efficient police supervision in the suburbs and in localities where the worst class of youths are permitted to congregate and combine for purposes of brutality and insult.
The failure of the authorities for many years to obtain a conviction against persons notably identified with monster sweeps and gambling has been attributable, not so much to defective legislative machinery as to the indifference, if not the connivance, of officers whose duty it was to bring offenders in this respect to justice.
It must be obvious that the appointment of the commission, the evidence adduced, and the recommendations made by them and, to some extent, acted upon must have exercised a marked influence upon the conduct of the police and the administration of the department, so that many of the more glaring abuses exposed have been partially rectified. It would, however, be idle to suppose that nothing further in this direction remains to be accomplished. In the opinion of your commissioners, the recommendations which they now submit in addition to those already made, are absolutely essential in order to place the police force of the colony in a proper and permanent state of efficiency.
III - BOARD OF THREE COMMISSIONERS
In the opinion of many of the most competent authorities, the administration of the affairs of the Police department should be vested in a board of three commissioners. A recommendation to that effect formed a prominent feature of the report of the select committee of the Assembly which sat during the sessions of 1861-2-3. It was as follows:-
"Your committee have inquired into and considered the present system of police management under one commissioner, and whether it would be more desirable to vest the management of the force in a board of three commissioners, and are of opinion that the affairs of the Police department under a board of three commissioners would be conducted with greater efficiency, impartiality, and economy, and with much more satisfaction both to the public and the members of the force than is possible under the present system. The affairs also of the Police department appear to be too numerous, various, and responsible to be entrusted to the discretion and administration of one commissioner. Your committee would therefore recommend that the future management of the police force be vested in a board of three commissioners." Upon this point some very important evidence was given at that time. Amongst the advocates for the proposed reform was Captain, now Sir Charles M'Mahon, who may be said to have organised the present police force of the colony. In his evidence before the committee, he is reported to have said -"My opinion now is as it always was when I occupied the position of chief commissioner myself. After I had brought the police into a state of organisation, and the country, or rather the population, was beginning to be more settled, I thought that the best system of management would be under a board of commissioners, and recommended that to the Chief Secretary."
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