The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1871-03-21 00:00:00

CorreOp oubc nu.

••• MA 0Z• • • %.7 1,1,2

To dm Etitici.

Sir,--l'hc question at present agitated in ths Town
Council and outaido it, whether Dorchester shall be
dependent for protection upon a Borough or the County
Police, admits of further ventilation. Will you kindly
afford space for some remarks suggested by some years'
experience in Dorchester ? To those free from the
temptations of place, patronage, and power, the
question seems to resolve itself into the two considera-
tions of efficiency and cost.
As to efficiency it has been stated by some advocating
the cause of the Borough.r Aliso, that serious offeiiders
have seldom, if ever, remained undetected by the police
over twenty-four hours. Was the burglar who stole
Mr. Hodges's plate, or he who robbed Mr. Tilley's
bureau of his money, or ho who entered one of
the banks but took very little spoil,or ho who despoiled
Miss Campbell of her plate—were all, were
.any of
these detected by our borough polies ! And when,
two or three years ago, the premises of several houses
in South-street were visited by burglars, did the
borough police aticaeod in bringing them to justioe ?
My memory falls to recall such successes.
But, Sir, efficiency Is required of our pollee for other
purposes thin thief-catching. Has not the peso) of
the quiet Inhabitants of Dorchester been frequently
unnecessarily disturbed, and their safety seriously
threatened, for want of more effinient pollee protection?
Nay, have we not been compelled to witness the
suocouful assertion of MoL Low on mons than one
occasion in tho last few years? Soule 20 years since a
waiting of county gentlemen and yeomen was held in
the Riding•achool at the Barracks. to give espreasion to
their dissatisfaction with the repeal of the Corn Laws.
A mob oolloctod °staid() and ass Wel the building with
stones ; the assembled gentry Ise mule a sortie, and
drovo their assailanta before them, unfortunately not
without the loss of one life. The mob was driven out
of the borough, but thou who had to travel home in
earrings' got unmercifully squalled as soon as
they passed over the borough boundary. Just
beyond Gray's Bridge, • portion of the select
oommunity was posted, and at least one
party innooent of any participation in the day's
affray was made to participate in its penalties; for
unconscious of danger the au nage was assailed by
source of missiles, (some over a pound weight) striking
horse, driver, and inmates, smashing all the glass, and
more than one steno hitting those 'agile. Nor was
this all ; due notice of danger had benu given in the
proper quarter, but no preparation load been made.
And so the Assailed gentry—many of them belonging to
the D.C. Yeomanry declared their determination to
punish Dorchester by never again usombling there for
their periodical training. Dorchester was thus
punished in • Tiny sensitive port. Is it now going to
show itself incorrigible by affecting to forget or by
ignoring all this?
I regret. Sir, not to have yet exhausted my proofs
of the inefficiency of the borough police. And hero I
would be permitted to explain that, in the last case,
And in the next to be narrated, their inefficiency was
inevitable, And therefore reflects no dishonour on the
borough fore,. They, frois the maws' of their nut-
bee. were totally incapaUe of coping frith sioA
antaponista ; ergo, A LARGILII TURCL IC • NRCESSITT.
Well, to proceed ; some seven years ago an attempt
was made to put in fermi a certain part of the
law against the fifth of November nooturnal demon-
strations, Oar borough polioe mail, most laudable exer-
tions to carry out their orders. A uolliaion took plane,
and staves were used. The people, enraged, smashed
the windows of the Town-hall, cracked the dial of the
illuminated clock, and subsequently called upon the
roughs to repeat their assemblage, with what intent, or
with what unintended oonaequenoes, we need not now
oonjecture. To prevent those, she peaceful inhabitants
who innocently imagined they paid for being proteotod,
were obliged to enrol themselves as special omstables,
to protest themselves and their more feeble fellow-
townsfolk. Would all this have happened if we had
had the help of the county police?
So much for the efficiency and suffieleney of the
borough police. Then as to the cost. A member of
the Corporation, who has shown his thorough know.
ledge of the subject, has proved that we could have the
use of the county police, well drilled, well commanded,
and not le:ally connected, for some £lOO less, or at •
ley sost by • penny halfpenny rate to the ratepayers.
Further, thy at Bridport where the county police are
employed in the manner proposed for Dorchester,
they give satisfaction. Now, sir, I ask whether
considering that our borough polio° does not
always miticeed in bringing ofenders to jmaii,x ),1
24 hours, any, very often does not suceeed
in
catching them at ill; Considering again, that in the
event of popular disturbance of the grave character of
the two instanoes above recorded, and indeed of much
more trivial character as in the street rows of Valentine
fair night, noticed in the calms of the Tina, our
Borough-pollee are too weak to prevail, and so use that
'f discretion which is the better part of valour,". and
give the roughs full liannee; Conadering those things,
would it not be wise, nay may it not be rensonably
demanded, that the Town Council should at least make
trial of the County Police? This one would ergo even at
te risk of iacrecteed coil, awl intritubt, p‘rmanincy of
the arrangement; but when it is known that the Town
Council can in six months resume its authority if
neeessary,and that the saving of a three halfpenny rate
Is worth oonsideration—it appears to be no porn than
the barest justice tea
RA,TE-BURDWIED INHABITANT.

SIB WILLIAM MAIMIELD is to be made a peer, under
the style cd Lord Sasattharet ; Sir LionrY Sulwert
Ii also to be raised to the peerage.
MI And meting of the Joint fligh Commimion iron
bald it Whittington on Walt 1