ould need much
guidance as well as protection, that the Indians would have to be taught
to stay on their reserves and make a living there, and that the
half-breeds, who were no lovers of agriculture, would have to be weaned
from their nomadic inclinations. In some parts of the vast country, as
at Prince Albert, Superintendent A. B. Perry, who took charge there
after the rebellion, states, "The general attitude of the half-breeds
and Indians was one of regret for what had happened." All was going
well, but in some other quarters there was a sort of sullenly defiant
spirit abroad which took all the tact and the courage of the Police to
overcome. It was fortunate that the officers and men of the Police had
from the beginning so commended themselves to the Indians and
half-breeds as exponents of fair play that these natives of the country
never seemed to hold the Police responsible for the errors, delays or
mistakes of any government.

In speaking of Police reports I would like the reader to bear in mind
that, in addition to the reports furnished by the combatant officers
generally so classified, commissioners, superintendents, inspectors and
others, some of the most remarkable and important documents sent forward
to the proper authorities, through the usual channels, were written by
the surgeons and their assistants, and also by the veterinary surgeons.
Men and their troop horses were companions on the long trails, and they
both had to be cared for by sympathetic experts in each line. It was
vastly important that both should be kept fit if the work was to be
done, and of the two the men themselves were always more anxious about
their horses than about their own comfort. Hence these health-preserving
specialists were of peculiar value for the efficiency of the corps. And
as they were men of education as well as keen observers, their reports
bore the evidences of research, which made them treasuries of
information.

As an indication of the way in which the Police showed that they were in
the country not only to preserve law and order but to guide settlers in
the interests of the country's development as well as for their own
welfare, I quote from one of Commissioner Lawrence Herchmer's annual
reports this valuable statement in 1886: "As a rule too little fall
ploughing is done in the North-West, and there is consequently too much
hurry amongst the farmers in the spring and large tracts of land are
sown, but not sufficientl