SEPT 18.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 2909

respectful and becoming language, and should be
preceded by a brief reference or indication to the
subject of the report, as in the following form :—

                        Police Station,
                      ....................19....

REPORT OF CONSTABLE [or SERGEANT, &c., as the case may
be] No. . . . . , RELATIVE TO [&c.].

Then should follow the report in the first person,
and it must be signed at the end by the person making
it, and his register number given.

182. All correspondence and reports must be
     expressed in clear and concise terms, and written
     on foolscap paper, with one-third margin, on one
     side only.

183. Proper attention should be paid to ortho-
     graphy; and names of persons or places should be
     correctly spelt, and always alike in all official
     reports and returns.

184. Every member of the Force should keep in
     mind the importance of distinct and legible writing.
     Officers and other members who send to headquarters
     reports or returns written in a cramped or slovenly
     manner will expose themselves to censure. No
     report should be so written as unnecessarily to
     increase its bulk; but the opposite extreme—that
     of attempting to compress the writing into a small
     space—is still more objectionable, and is to be care-
     fully avoided. This admonition is especially appli-
     cable to the names of persons and places, which must
     be written with perfect distinctness. Special care
     should be taken that all signatures to documents
     are perfectly legible, both as regards initials and
     surnames. Erasures should not be made, but correc-
     tions of errors in words and figures should be made
     by drawing a line through the error and writing or
     typing the substituted words or figures above or else-
     where. Numerals especially should be corrected in
     this manner, owing to the difficulty of determining
     which number is the one. All such erasures and
     alterations should be initialled by the person who
     makes them.

185. Every officer of Police will be held respon-
     sible for a careful scrutiny of all reports passing
     through his hands, and shall see that they are re-
     spectfully worded and in proper form. He should
     see that so far as possible documents are not soiled,
     worn, or otherwise damaged by being unnecessarily
     carried about or by negligence in any form.

186. All reports must be promptly furnished. All
     inquiries should be expeditiously made and the result
     reported without unnecessary delay. If a stage is
     reached at which the investigation, if incomplete,
     cannot be continued, an interim report showing the
     progress of the inquiries to date should be furnished.

187. When correspondence is referred to any
     member of the Force for a report he shall make
     his report upon a separate sheet of paper, which
     must be attached in front of the file.

Minutes must not be written on the back of re-
ports or correspondence; if there is not sufficient
space on the front of the sheet, a fresh sheet of
paper must be used. Margins should be used only
for very short minutes, such as "Noted," "Referred
to ———," "Report herewith," or some equally brief
remarks suitable to the occasion, but even this must
not be carried to excess.

Full half-sheets of foolscap must be used for all
reports, and no scraps of paper must be attached by
any one.

188. Each distinct set of papers should be properly
     attached at the upper left-hand corner, having the
     later reports in front, following consecutively in order
     of date. If metal fasteners are used in attaching
     papers, the points thereof should be uppermost.
     The pages of the file are not to be numbered. A
     blank sheet should be placed at the back of each
     file to protect it.

Photographs, extracts from newspapers, or exhibits
of any kind of cloth or paper, should not be
fastened or gummed to the upper left-hand corner
of documents. This corner is used for the pin or
other fastener of the file of papers, and the practice
referred to not only results in mutilation of the photo-
graphs or press extracts, but in necessity to remove
them in order to see or peruse them. Telegrams
received and placed on a file should be mounted so
that the fastener will not obscure or mutilate the
place of origin, date, time, or number thereon.

Photographs not put up in envelopes should be
affixed to separate sheets of paper in such a posi-
tion if possible that the folding of the paper will not
damage them. Press paragraphs should also be
affixed to separate sheets of paper, or if more con-
venient and suitable in particular cases, either in the
clear margin of the document (avoiding the left upper
corner), or at the end if there is a clear space.

Long newspaper reports of trials, or other press
matter required for Police files, should be cut column
from column the correct lengths, and mounted neatly
in proper sequence on foolscap or sheets of paper
of similar size.

189. When telegrams or letters are sent to any
     person a press or carbon copy should be attached
     to the file so as to make it complete.

190. Ordinary official letters to officers of the
     Force should be addressed to "The Commissioner,"
     "Superintendent," "Inspector," or "Sub-Inspector
     of Police," as the case may be, and not by name.
     The same rule applies to subordinate members of
     the Force.

Secret or confidential communications should be
enclosed in a second cover, the inner one only
being marked "Secret," or "Confidential," as the
case may be.

When an official communication addressed to a
member of the Force is enclosed in a cover marked
"Private," "Confidential," "Secret," "Personal,"
or "Immediate," the cover of the reply, if any reply
be required, should be marked in a similar manner.

When correspondence of a "secret" or "con-
fidential" nature is received by an officer and it is
impracticable for him to personally make the neces-
sary inquiries, he should personally select and in-
struct a member of the Force to make them and to
report direct to him. A record of such inquiries, and
if necessary a copy or precis of the reports, should be
kept by the officer personally in a private book.

Officers should make such arrangements as they
think fit for the opening of and attention to secret
or confidential communications received during their
absence from office, residence, or the place where
they reside. In such case the officer so authorized
should make a copy or precis and hand it to the
officer on his return.

191. All communications intended for head-
     quarters are to be addressed to "The Commissioner
     of Police, Wellington."

192. In referring to previous correspondence with
     the Commissioner's office the record number of such
     correspondence must be quoted, and when any papers
     are forwarded with a minute they must be promptly
     attended to and returned.

193. Whenever an application upon any subject
     is made to headquarters, or any order referred to