64
number of forty-two men per day, has hardly given an opportunity to enable us rightly
to judge of its efficiency as a deterrent punishment;
事
to which Captain Hyde adds that
152 of the Town Gaol prisoners were reconvicted in 1871-2
4. I would observe that it would be better to avoid the employment at Government House of prisoners who ought to be kept at shot drill or other strictly penal labour, as it puts the Government in the position of appearing to approve of this departure from the rules of prison discipline.
5. I have further to call your attention to the statement at page 6 of Captain Hyde's Report, that respectable female debtors are confined at Prison "A," together with short-sentenced female prisoners, and that a respectable woman may thus "find herself shut up in the same ward with the most abandoned of her sex."
6. Apart from all questions of abolishing imprisonment for debt as a measure of judicial reform, I cannot but observe that it is not justifiable for the Legislature to maintain a law which enables judgment-creditors to sue out execution of ca. sa. in cases of merely civil debt, where there is not necessarily any ingredient of culpability, if it neglects to provide a decent place of detention for incarcerated debtors, and subjects them to association with criminals.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
No. 13.
KIMBERLEY,
Governor Rawson, C.B., to the Eurl of Kimberley.—(Received July 29.)
(No. 60. Barbados.) My Lord,
Government House, Barbados, July 9, 1873. IN accordance with the instructions conveyed in your Lordship's Circular despatch of the 30th January, 1872, I have the honour to forward, in duplicate, the Return, "Criminal Statistics," prepared for the Blue Book of 1872, together with the Reports of the Attorney-General and the Inspector of Prisons, which have reached me this day.
2. I have already, in my despatch No. 47 of the 10th ultimo, brought to your Lordship's notice the decrease in the number of prisoners in confinement during the few weeks preceding that date. There has been no material change up to the present time. I am able to add my testimony to that of the Attorney-General, with regard to the absence of grave crime, and to the general character of the population of the island, both in its favourable and unfavourable aspects.
3. With regard to the Report of the Inspector of Prisons, I have been carefully watching the effect of flogging on the discipline of the gaols, and have been in com- munication with the Visiting Justice who most frequently adopts this kind of punishment. A great laxity of discipline had crept into the Town Hall Gaol, under a former Visiting Justice, whom I was obliged to relieve of his duties, and the introduction of shot drill, which is very unpalatable to the prisoners, had induced frequent and repeated attempts at malingering, or refusing to lift the shot, which required to be met by a punishment the physical effects of which the class of men found in our prisons most dread, without entertaining any sense of moral degradation from its infliction. The number of lashes given is generally small, from 9 to 12 or 15; and I anticipate that such punishments, which have already become less frequent, will continue to decrease, but I shall direct the remarks of the Inspector to be communicated to the Visiting Justices.
I have, &c.
(Signed) RAWSON W. RAWSON.
65
Inclosure 1 in No. 13. Criminal Statistics, 1872.
I.-OFFENCES.
TABLE showing the Number of Offences reported to the Police or the Magistrates
Totul
Number of Offences Offences against the
Person.
during 1872.
Prædial Larceny
•
Reported.
7,002
1,349
1.466
Offences against Property (other than Other Offenece, Prædial Larceny).*
817
8,370
By Prial Larceny" is meant the offence prevalent in the sugar-growing and coolie-importing colonies of robbing provision grounds and homesteads. It need not be filled up in colonies where such crime is not prevalent; and, it being struck out, any other prevalent crime may be substituted-as cattle stealing, arson, &c.
+ Include both offences against rights of property and injuries to the subjects of property.
II.-APPREHENSIONS AND SUMMONSES.
TABLE showing the Number of Persons brought before the Magistrates' Courts by Arrest Warrant or Summons for Offences, and how their Cases were disposed of in the Magistrates' Courts.
--
Offences against the person. Prædial larceny Offences against property
other than prædial larceny Offences against Master and Servants Act, including Acts relating to inden- tured coolies
Other offences
Number Discharged for want of Prosecution by the Party complaining. or for want of Evidence.
Number of Cases Dismissed
on the Merits.
Number of Persons summarily Convicted.
Number of Persous Committed for Trial in the Superior Courts.
124
719
1,215
139
104
893
26 19
30
281
322
58
18
6
27
1,166
240 2,551
Total number of persons
summoned or appre hended
338
2.276
5,224
125
NOTE-Purely civil cases in which Magistrates exercise jurisdiction are not to be included in this or the following Table.
* See foot note (†) above.
HIL-SUMMARY CONVICTIONS.
TABLE showing the Number of Summary Convictions for various Classes of Offences, and the kind of Punishments Inflicted.
Punishments.
Fine..
Total Number of
Offences.
Assaults
Malicious
and other
Offences
Injuries ¦
against the Person.
tu
Property.
Predial Larceny.
Offences
i
against Pro
perty other
thian Malicious
Injuries to
Property or
Pradial Larceny.
Offences against Offences against
Masters and
Revenue Acis,
Highway Acts,
Health Arts,
Servants Acts,
and other Acts including Acts
relating to the
Serial Economy
!relating to
Indentured Coolies.
Other Offences.
of the Colony.:
3,554
1,004
18
219
1
1,387
249
676
Imprisonment, in lieu of fine or
surety
248
104
58
3
65
14
4
Peremptory im-
prisonment
1,344
116
2
697
175
12
311
Whipping
Bound over with
or without sureties
30G
282
Total
5,452 1,506
20
| 9741 179
1.494
264
24
1,015
Where there has been an appeal from the Magistrate's decision the case is to be entered as finally decided, and not necessarily according to the Magistrate's original decision.
(128)
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
CO.885
Reference :-
2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-