Attitude of Police Authority (cont’d)
This is a ridiculous thing, but Nelson caves receive the best police care. All police have to look after caves but in Nelson police take care of them willingly. To “take care” may not be an appropriate way of describing it but it is a firm fact that the police at least indirectly offer them protection.
However, this tolerant attitude of Nelson police authority to the caves is not extended to the caves of whites and blacks. It is worth our attention because they only tolerate Japanese caves.
Earlier, when I described the route of pioneering, I mentioned a number of times that Nelson’s situation is different. Therefore, I believe that the reader has understood the attitude of Nelson police. To summarize, this can be attributed to the persisting power of the pioneer era when Takahashi and Tetsuji Ishida spread money around, and the absence of Japanese straight business people in the city, which has resulted in the absence of conflicts like the ones that happened in Revelstoke. This made an impression on police authority that Japanese caves are peaceful. In fact, the police chief stated that white and other cave fellows always cause conflicts.
Indeed, seeing from one angle, it is understandable that police offer a reasonable amount of protection to those caves. The city has created a district for caves in order to reduce the amount of their office work and prevent crimes from spreading out. We cannot simply criticize the fact that police protect caves as something completely unreasonable. However, Nelson has gone a little too far. Here is an example. One time Japanese labourers in the neighbourhood visited Nelson for some business and stayed at a hotel in the city. Of course, they went out at night, too. Then they caught an officer’s attention and got an earful. The officer goes, “For what purpose did you come to this town? There is no place for you to work. You will cause some trouble at a brothel. Leave the town now!” Protecting brothels and causing trouble for straight people, or even pure labourers—I cannot even come up with a word to critique this. Who should be punished? In my view, it is no one else but the caves themselves. I would not discuss the police’s tolerance or stringency if there was no brothel. No one would dream that straight people and honest labourers would have to go through such a silly experience. Cave devils are foolishly saying publicly that police fellows are very nice to them and it is straight fellows who receive rants. How thick are their faces? We must grill them for their guilt publicly.