It goes on to say that horses are to be used as little as possible and when not used, turned into a paddock or put onto a ration of hay only; shoeing is to be done as little as possible and only when the delay in shoeing will endanger the horse’s usefulness; all unnecessary or seemingly unnecessary patrols are to be discontinued; extra care must be taken of brooms, cloaks, overcoats and brushes, and indeed of all articles issued so that they may last longer than the stipulated time; the number of letters sent must be curtailed, and so on. Current instructions are to cut down on the use of petrol, tyres etc.

An 1892 district order similarly stipulated that kerosene supplied by the Government must be burnt for as short a time as possible - an average of three hours per night was considered ample and experiments had proved that a five-eights inch wick as supplied by the Department with half a pint of kerosene oil will burn for eleven and a third hours, therefore three gallons of oil should last for six months. Lockup lamps should not be lighted on moonlit nights and should never be alight after midnight.

While looking through the gazettes Snr Sgt Duffy came across a woodcut photo of a missing person whose surname was the same as his neighbour’s. It turned out to be his neighbour’s uncle who was murdered and whose body was found in the Yarra; the family had never had a photo of him.

A handwritten copy of a telegram from the Chief Commissioner of Police, 1923, is also included in the gazettes regarding a strike that occurred in our area.

In the past the police were meant to keep a daily diary. There was no CIB at Morwell until about 1960 and before that there was a detective at Warragul who covered an area from Phillip Island, Garfield to Traralgon, and another at Sale who did the rest of Gippsland. From 1952-1960 that detective was Don Cadby who now lives in Bairnsdale but had the area from Mallacoota, Omeo, Bendock, Glenn Wills etc to attend to. He was kind enough to lend his diaries to Snr Sgt Duffy who learnt that at 8:30am on Tuesday, 24th June, Detective Cadby picked up prisoners at the Sale Jail, attended Bairnsdale general sessions, awaited trial of prisoners then, after getting a prisoner from the cells, was advised that Fitzclarence had a piece of iron hidden in his clothes and was going to ‘clock the escort and make a break’. A piece of three-quarter inch water pipe was found subsequently on Fitzclarence. All in a day’s work!

Another entry worth mentioning involved the homicide and arson squad regarding the death of Stephen Biro and the burning of the Glenn Wills Hotel. This investigation included Detective Cadby transporting the contents of Biro’s stomach to Sale. They were often long days, ending after midnight, and involved a great deal of travelling. These daily diaries were meant to be handed-in when completed, kept for seven years, and were then to be destroyed.