1841-1886
PAPERS RELATING TO
Decrease of Crime.
I have no wish, gentlemen, to weary you with statistics, but I may perhaps quote the authentic figures which have recently been put before me with reference to the class of crimes which some years ago caused so much alarm throughout the Colony. I take the four years during which, as I have just mentioned, under the exercise of the royal prerogative, I practically suspended those penal laws which Her Majesty has now abolished. In 1878 cases of murder numbered seven, and this number was reduced to four in 1879; in 1880 there was one case, and in 1881 two cases. Of cases of robbery with violence from the person, the number was 35 in 1878, 39 in 1879, 25 in 1880, and 19 in 1881. Cases of burglary, or larceny from dwelling houses, amounted to 113 in 1878, to 101 in 1879, to 53 in 1880, and to 60 in 1881. There were two assaults with intent to rob in 1880, and none in 1881. Taking the total of these really grave crimes, which formerly caused so much apprehension and alarm, in 1878 they amounted to 173, in 1879 to 145, in 1880 to 81, and in 1881 to 81.
Decrease of Kidnapping.
The only other class of crime to which I will refer is kidnapping. With reference to that crime, you are aware that Lord Kimberley instructed me to approve in his name of a Chinese Society, which now deals practically with the suppression of that crime, acting in concert with the Captain Superintendent of Police. The consequence is that the smallest number of kidnapping cases that occurred in the four years I have referred to was in 1881, when we had only 50 such cases. This is owing to the operations of the Chinese Society, the skill and energy of the police force, and the action of the Supreme Court in passing heavy sentences on those who are convicted of that offence. I believe that by these means the principal kidnappers are at the present moment locked up in our gaol.
Companies Ordinance.
Amongst the other Ordinances passed in 1881, is Ordinance No. 14, the Companies Ordinance, which introduced some reforms that were pressed upon my attention by my honourable friend, the senior unofficial member of the Legislative Council. It is an Ordinance that facilitates the work of those commercial associations that are doing so much to utilise the surplus capital of the Colony
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