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informed the Captain Superintendent of Police that in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee in paragraph 28. I left it to his discretion "to put two thirds of the Police on duty at night, or not, as might be necessary, expressing at the same time my hope that, by distribution of the Force, he would be able to check the robberies with violence committed by bodies of men, frequently armed, which have been so unusually frequent for some time past. I referred in my despatch of 8th February last to the very important increase in the number of these offences during the past year.
The hard and fast order that two-thirds of the Police were to be put on duty from 10 PM. to 6 am, was given in the year 1879, and has been in existence ever since. I quite agree with the Committee that it is unwise to fetter the hands of the Head of the Police Force by such a regulation which leaves him no discretionary...