645
5
I now consider the claims of crime under their several heads. There are unfortunately such heavy increases. The most important of these are (1) Housebreaking, (2) Larceny in a Dwelling, (3) Larceny and (4) Unlawful Possession. As regards (1), 146 cases of Housebreaking certainly are very bad. But this class of crime, as pointed out by one of my predecessors, is not quite what we think of when we use the term in England.
6 It means something like breaking into a shop or office by wrenching off a turn of the lock or opening it with a false key, the cheap lock on an inner room whose occupant is at work, or merely pushing open an inviting door with a knife point or a wooden bar along the sill till the door opens.
There are crimes of this class committed by some fellow inmate of the house who decamps before the theft is discovered. Police can do practically nothing to prevent this class of crime.