410
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE 22ND SEPTEMBER, 1877.
An analysis of Table in the Police returns dated the 31st of January, 1877, gives the following results:-
Four months, from May to August, 1876, inclusive,
Number of cases
of Assaults and Disorderly
Number of cases
of Robbery from the person with violence.
Number of cases Number of cases of Burglary. of Larceny.
12
Conduct.
29
374
288
Four months, from Septem-
ber to December, 1876,
17
26
345
220
inclusive,
This return shows, that the number of felonies committed in the four months preceding the unusual influx of passengers from Canton was four hundred and fifteen, whilst in the four months, during which the reduced fares were in operation, the number of felonies was three hundred and seventy-eight.
But it is not an increase of crime confined to the year 1876.
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Here is the return of "Serious Offences in Table C of the Criminal Statistics, which were submitted to Sir ARTHUR KENNEDY on the 31st of January, 1877, by Mr. DEANE:—
SERIOUS OFFENCES.
Number of Cases.
Description.
1874
1875
1876
Murder,
3*
3*
Robbery with Violence from the Person,.
15
13
24
Burglary or Larceny in a Dwelling House, Assault with Intent to rob,
69
107
90
3
1
Kidnapping,
51
63
55
Piracy,
7
5
5
Unlawful Possession,
203
251
239
Larcenies,
802
938
1,059
Felonies not already given,..
16
13
Total,.....
1,165
1,395
1,485
* One case also given under Piracy.
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offences.
375,
and
95; and
In this Colony, it has been the practice to classify crimes into serious offences and mine Now what has been the number of cases of serious offences in Hongkong in the years 1874, 1876? In 1874, the total number of serious offences was 1,165; in 1875 this had risen to in 1876, it had risen to 1,485. Of what do these serious crimes consist? Tak
agains property of larcenies there were 802 in 1874, 938 in 1875, and 1,059 in 1
Dery with violence from the person, there were 15 cases in 1874, 13 in 1875, and 24 cases of that most serious offence in 1876. Of minor offences, which include common assaults and offences other than felonies, there was a similar increase: they amounted to 3,495 in 1874; to 3,623 in 1875; and 4,510 in 1876. But it is not a mere question of the three last years. Had Lord CARNARVON turned his attention to the increase of crime in this Colony for ten years past, he would find from these papers, that there has been an increase from the year 1867 to the year 1876, and that the largest number of serious offences recorded during those ten years was in 1876.* But the statistics of one single year may be fallacious, and therefore I have reduced to the annual averages the crime of the last five years and the preceding five
years, and here is the result. Annual average of serious crimes from the year 1867 to the year 1871, 1,303; annual average from 1872 to 1876, 1,351; annual number of offences of all kinds during the five years from 1867 to 1871, 5,718 as against 7,124 offences of all kinds committed during the five years from 1872 to 1876. It is quite possible also, that those who have looked into the matter, may have noticed something else relating to prison discipline in this Colony, and that is the increase in the number of prison offences of late years. They are also recorded in our books and have been transmitted every year to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Taking them for the last three years, here is the result: 1874, 426; 1875, 1,085; 1876, 2,726. Such a startling increase in the
(*)
Serious Crimes,
Minor Offences,
1867. 1868. 1869. 1870. 1871.
1,458 1,240 967 1,357 1,483 1,394 1,316 1,165 1,395 1,485
4,585 4,456 3,634 4,380 5,018 8,956 6,164 4,597 4,086 5,061
1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. 1876.