Paper no.18, 5 June 1880

Confidential / Police Department / Chief Commissioner’s Office / Melbourne, June 5th 1880 / / / My dear Hare, / Your letters of Thursday & Friday reached me yesterday and this morning. I had already heard all the particulars of your warm reception at Benalla from Mrs. Hare also the invitation to dinner. / Nicolson called here yesterday and on my holding out my hand in the usual manner shoved both his into his hat and declined to accept it. I requested him to sit down but I could not get a word out of him so I told him that when quite convenient to him I would instruct to proceed on a tour of inspection to the country districts. He said I shall be ready to go on Tuesday. His manner is mostly very insolent but I attribute it entirely to (torn page) .... vanity and a suspicion of every body (torn page) ... caused no doubt by mental aberration. I fully expect that he will go quite cranky. / Anent the blacks. I cannot send any men to Queensland without the Ch.Secty's authority and I am sure not to see him till Monday aftn. Kennedy is engaged on a special duty wh will prevent his leaving the Colony. I have just written to Chomley to ask him if he has any objection to running up to Brisbane and I hope he will consent. As soon as I have arranged matters I will at once telegraph to Seymour. Herbert [Hubert] Power has promised to look out for suitable men coming down …. the B … & if McGregor has some good ones, he will (torn page) .... advise me. McGregor's cattle (torn page).be down here for Wednesday’s market /

I think you were right not to make any radical changes until you grasp the situation. Wallace is quite unreliable. Mr Bolum the Inspr. of Schools called here & told me the Dept. intended removing him shortly; he had applied to go to Benalla East School but I strongly recommended his being removed altogether out of the Distr; I think he will be a good riddance. / / Kirwan is also a man I have no faith in and we are well rid of him. Kennedy is also a man I dont believe in & I think he could be much more to tell us than to make away with the outlaws. I admit, however, that he is very plausible etc. / / The late governing powers seem to have made a great hash of their last chance of capturing the gang! But what can one expect from a vainglorious lunatic like your predecessor? / / I hope that Sadleir will work cordially you. Of course he listened to Nicolson's complaints & grievances & I am not surprised that he felt a kind of sympathy for him. / / I will write to you again soon. / / / Very Sincerely Yrs. / F. C. Standish / / Kind regards to Sadleir. I have urged strongly on the P. Works Dept the necessity for the repairs in your quarters being carried out at once. / F S /

This is part of the digitized version of the Francis Hare Correspondence held in the University of Melbourne Archives. It consists of 54 letters and documents, of which this is one, from 1859-87 and received by or relating to Superintendent Francis Hare, one of the members of the Victoria police force involved in the pursuit and capture of the Kelly Gang. The collection complements Hare’s published memoir, The Last of the Bushrangers (London, 1892) and includes letters by some of the key figures of the Kelly story including the Police Commissioner Frederick Standish, Superintendents Charles Hope Nicolson and John Sadleir, Detective M Ward and John Sherritt, as well as items by Hare himself.