Correspondence with the Colonial Secretary's Office

[upper right corner, written in ink] [PComr?]

[oval stamp] COMMISSIONER OF POLICE. 05, 190. QUEENSLAND 15 APR. 89

[centred, written in ink] Civil Service Commission.

C. S. Com. - Police - Wednesday, 6th Feb. - FORTY-THREE WEDNESDAY 6 FEBRUARY, 1889. (At No. 1 Committee Room, Legislative Assembly.) Present : T. UNMACK E.B. FORREST F. KATES R.J. GRAY. T. UNMACK IN THE CHAIR. DOMINICK HEAVEY, Ex-Constable, examined : 10723. By the Chairman: What are you? I am an ex-constable, and at the present time I am a stockman on the Herbert River. 10724. How long were you in the force? About 12 months, from the 17th June of one year until [in right margin, in pencil] dischd April the 15th June of the next. 10725. You have written to the Civil Service Commissioners offering to substantiate and prove certain charges of mismanagement and injustice on the part of certain inspectors. You have also formulated a charge against Inspector Stafford of receiving £30 under false pretences as the cost of shifting a police camp from Glenroy to Palmerville? I have. 10726. in reply to our request you have volunteered to come to Brisbane at your own expense and prove these charges? I have done so. 10727. Very well, we shall be glad now to hear anything you have to say; of course you understand you must give us ample proof of what you say? Anything I have put on paper I am prepared to prove. 10728. Very well, go on in your own way? On the 2nd or 3rd August, 1887, I took possession of the [in right margin, in pencil] - arnd 12 Aug, left 10 native police camp at Palmerville, and immediately after arriving there I was introduced into a blacksmith's shop by the inspector who had taken possession of the police quarters. 10729. What inspector? Inspector Stafford. He told me I would have to stop in the blacksmith's shop until such time as I built a cottage or made some provision for myself. I said: "Is there no provision "made here for police quarters?" and he replied: None whatever; I am in possession of the police "quarters, and you will have to abide by my decision." I said: "Mr. Stafford, am I sent up here to stop "under these old bellows, without any provision at all being made for me?" and he replied: "You will "have to abide by my orders." In the meantime he had given £8 to a carrier named Fox to bring four [in right margin, in pencil] - money Paid "2" Save loads from Glenroy to Palmerville. The rest of the Government property I changed from Glenroy to Palmerville. I had been doing native police camp sergeant's duty previous to this; x [written in ink] and I was sent out [in right margin, in pencil, and underlined] - where on duty. When I returned there was a permanent order there from the inspector, through another constable, for me, to the effect that I was to sell a Government horse, named "Oblivion," that had been employed by the force for fourteen years. I said I would not sell the horse, whether I got an order to do so from Inspector Stafford or Inspector Murray, because it was contrary to the rules and regulations of the force to dispose of anything like that. I was told I was to sell the horse to a man named Bostock, who was travelling on the road to Croydon. The man called on me on the following day, and said: "You are to give me Oblivion." I said: "What for?" and he replied: "I am going to Croydon, "and I bought him from Mr. Stafford." I asked him if he had got an order from Mr. Stafford, and he said "No; but I was told by Mr. Murray that you would give me Oblivion, and put a price on him." [in right margin, in pencil] - false I said: "I would not dispose of him in that way, even if Mr. Murray gave me an order, without "I got instructions from the Commissioner to do so." I did not give him the horse, and when Stafford returned he said to me: "How dare you contradict my instructions." I said: "In what way, "Mr. Stafford?" He replied: "You ought to have given Oblivion to Bostock." And I said: "I would not do that, because it is contrary to the rules and regulations of the police force to give Government property away like that. Stafford got into a rage then, and what followed I am not going to repeat here, except what concerns myself. 10730. What became of the horse? The horse is gone. He sold him and two or three more besides. 10731. But if he sold the horse did he not account for the money? I do not know. I asked Mr. Murray about it on two or three occasions, but he would give me no satisfactory reply, because between two sub-inspectors a policeman can have nothing to say. 10732. By Mr. Forrest: Did he pocket the money? He received the money. I do not know whether he returned it; but I say it is against the regulations of the police force to sell horses at all except upon the order of the Commissioner, and then they must be sold by public auction. 10736. By the Chairman: Can you prove that he kept the money for his own purposes? I would not on any consideration say he did pocket the money. He received it; but whether he returned the money to the Government or not I do not know. 10737. By Mr. Forrest: Then why do you raise a charge of this sort when, by you [sic] rown [sic] showing, there is nothing in it? I can show you that it is contrary to the regulations. 10738. Never mind the regulations. You charge the man with fraud and you are not game to prove it here? Well, I suppose I had better have nothing more to say. 10739. By the Chairman: I will quote from your own letter. You charge Stafford "with selling a Government horse to a traveller and not accounting to the inspector for the said horse." What do you say to that? Anything in that letter I can substantiate. 10740. Well, do so? I can substatiate [sic] that from the Commissioner's report. 10741. I ask you to substantiate it? I am powerless; I could not ask men to come here. 10742. You see you are not here merely for the purpose of giving evidence. You are here for the purpose of proving and substantiating charges you have made against some of the officers of the Police Department, and that you must co [sic]? I am quite prepared to do it. 10743. That is all you are asked to do. You charge a man with selling a Government horse and "with not accounting to the inspector for the said horse." You say he has not accounted for the horse? I could not prove that. 10744. By Mr. Kates: Did you write to the inspector on the subject ? I reported the matter to the inspector twice, but, he being in league with Stafford, I could get no satisfaction from him. 10745. Did you get any answer from him ? He never replied to me. He was in league with Stafford for disposing of and destroying Government property.