Thrifty fore folk left fascinating evidence of overseas trading preferences, restricted finances and careful reuse in hundreds of memorandums retained by the Queensland Police Museum. In October 1929 Commissioner William Harold Ryan signed Circular Memorandum with the following direction;
Officers–in-charge of Districts are advised that intimation has been received from the Chief Secretary’s Office, to the effect that it has now been decided that the Queensland Government, in placing orders for material and in accepting tenders, will give;
1) 5 per cent preference to goods of Queensland manufacture over goods manufactured in other Australian States,
2) 5 per cent preference to goods manufactures in the other Australian States over British goods,
3) 5 per cent preference to British goods over foreign goods including goods manufactured in the United States of America.
Constable Robert G. Pacholke on horseback near the Fossilbrook Police Station agistment yard, c1928.
Image No. PM1110 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
Due to good growing conditions the purchase of forage for horses was expected to reduce, with agistment obtained instead, but this was not the only cost mentioned when scrutinising expenditure in September 1930;
Transfers in future cannot be taken into consideration except in cases of absolute hardship or necessity, and then it must be stated as already instructed, whether the applicant is able and willing to pay the expenses of transfer.
Railway Fares, Freights and Conveyance – the interest of the Department and the present economic stress must ever be borne in mind when services have to be performed under this heading. The horses provided by the State must be used in all practicable instances, and the tendency to use private cars or motor cycles at the cost of the State must be discontinued. Claims for mileage will, in future, be closely watched and will not be passed unless the circumstances indicate special urgency and the need to avoid dangerous delay.
Until further ordered Police Reports may be written on both sides of the paper, the margin on the reverse side being retained on the right hand edge of the paper. Moreover when applications for leave etc. are submitted, there is not real need to attach a separate report, and any relevant information that cannot be shown on the race of the application can be set out in a report or memorandum on the back thereof.
Control of Fibres and Jute Goods Order from the Prime Minister, Canberra, 1943.
In March 1943 the Department of Supply and Shipping reported an acute shortage of fibre supplies, so much so that an order from the Prime Minster was forwarded to all government departments requesting the conservation of such products, which was in turn provided in a Commissioner’s Memorandum;
“Control of Fibres and Jute Goods Order – Conservation of Rope, Cordage, Twine and String”
Old rope, binder twine and similar types of cordage should be saved for teasing and manufacture again into other commodities. Details of the arrangements that have been made for the purchase and processing of this material are set out in circular letter [dated] 22nd March 1943 from the Controller of Fibres. Commonwealth Departments are being advised that specifications should be revised with the object of saving as much fibre as possible, and that everybody must be prepared to accept and use the type, size and quality of rope, cordage or twine that will do the particular job in hand, regardless of colour, appearance and special preferences.
DISCLAIMER – No animals were harmed whilst writing this article, and all horses were appropriately fed and watered.
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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing. The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM the VAULT- Refrain, reuse, recycle” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode