The Argus at KellyGang 7/8/1882 (3)
Royal Commission - evidence
The facts of this case were that a son of the lady was missing, and she asked him (Mr Secretan) to institute a search for the missing youth. He replied that he had no man to spare for a special duty of that kind, and advised her to put the matter into the hands of a private defective. The lady however, would not take that course, and he then employed an outside man to do the work on her behalf, paying him £2 to start with out of his own pocket. Eventually the missing youth turned up, and then the lady sent him (Mr Secretan) a cheque for £5, and 25s to pay for the cost of the inquiries which had been made. The 25s went for telegrams, and the £5 cheque he paid into the Bank of Victoria giving after wards £3 in money to the outside man he had employed in the matter. He was only under Rourke from Christmas, 1860 to November, 1861. As a matter of fact, he never applied for promotion at all, and Mr Chomley (he said) did not recollect ever having seen any such application from him. Another fact was that he was not promoted until July, 1861, or 12 months, instead of only a fortnight, after the time referred to by Rourke.
Mr Chomley, moreover, has complimented him highly for services which he performed in connexion with the ?low murder, and which were rendered at the very time Rourke said that Mr Chomley had reported him to be unfit for the service. He never said that Mr Nicolson was going to make changes which would be for his (Mr Secretan's) benefit, and indeed was unaware at the time that Mr Nicolson had returned from a trip to England . He never threw obstacles in the way in the matter of Reynold's case. On that case Detectives Rourke and Foster were both employed, and the duty book showed that Foster had nothing else to attend to then, and that there were only two other cases which Rourke was asked to attend to, and that both of them were handed over to Detective Mahoney. Rourke had suffered severely for 12 months with rheumatics before he left the service, and was sent before the medical board and pensioned off. He (Mr Secretan) never applied for promotion and never sought any political influence. Mr Nicolson was not related to him in any way.
Senior constable Rogers urged that the rank of senior constable should be abolished, and that the grades should be:- constable, second class sergeant, first class sergeant, senior sergeant or sergeant major with four stripes. Each stripe should carry 1s instead of only 6d per day extra, as the present remuneration was not sufficient for the increased responsibility. Promotions, be submitted, should be made by a board consisting of the chief commissioner, a superintendent and another member not connected with the force, and should be made on the grounds of length of service, efficiency, and merit. Special acts of merit should, he held, be rewarded, but not by promotion. He suggested that, in lieu of promotion, good conduct pay should be given at the rate of 3d per day for constables. It was considered a hardship in the force that a man, when sick, should be compelled to leave his home and go to the police hospital, and that, in addition to losing the careful nursing which he would receive from his wife or friends, 3s 9d per day should be deducted from his pay. Most of the married men in the force had provided for the time of sickness by joining friendly societies.
To prevent malingering he would deduct 1s per day from the pay of men on the sick list. This was the plan adopted in South Australia, and if a man was convicted of malingering he was severely punished. The married members of the force also held that they should be allowed 1s per day in lieu of Government quarters. He further urged that their uniform should be of colonial tweed with red facings, and that the old French caps should be reintroduced in place of the helmet now worn, which was cumbersome. He also alleged that there was a defect in the Police Superannuation Act. When members of the force died suddenly, there was, he said, a great difficulty in their widows or next of kin obtaining the money they were entitled to. He deprecated the practice of placing a constable permanently in charge of other constables on the ground that it weakened discipline.
Sergeant Daly, of Williamstown, said he had been a first-class sergeant for over 26 years, and complained that he had been ignored in the matter of promotion. He had a clean sheet, and he could only account for his not having been promoted by the fact that he was a Roman Catholic, and had never used political influence. In the police force promotions certainly did not go by merit and seniority, but he supposed this was the case in every department. The regulations of the force were very good, bunt they were not properly carried out. Things would go on much better if the officers took more interest in the service. He had been found fault with for not having many cases, but he did not think that the having of many cases was a good sign.
Recently he saved a lad from a severe sentence and a flogging on a charge of rape. He found out and showed that the lad was not guilty, but his conduct was not approved of. He had put down larrikinism and the parading of prostitutes in the streets of Williamstown by acting with firmness, and could not see why the same could not be done in Melbourne . More police magistrates were wanted. They were better than justices, who could not help being influenced by local matters. He approved generally of the present uniform of the police, but said that the helmets should give place to caps. There were reasons for and against the police hospital, the men wanted it abolished, but it was a good check on malingering. For the jealousy which existed between the two branches of the force both the general police and the detectives were to blame, but the system was faulty.
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