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Many have been caught flagrante delicto - that thieves have been tracked down and arrested - that stolen property has been recovered - and that through their presence a certain amount of crime has been prevented. And although there have been fines inflicted on a few of the men for petty offences connected with their discipline, in no case, so far as I am aware, have they been convicted of any crime in either the inferior or Superior Courts of the Colony.
And I am wholly unable to understand the wisdom of the advice which would deprive the Colony of the many benefits derivable from the District Watchmen without offering any equivalent, or pretending to offer, in exchange.
(Signed) Cecil Smith,
Registrar General
19 December 1828.
(True Copy)
G. T. Staunton,
Acting Colonial Secretary