36
be done otherwise, I think the best mode of effecting it will be by building a new prison elsewhere for the women.
8. With respect to the proposed Government Reformatory School, I regret that I have felt myself obliged to re-open the question of its site. The present proposal is to place it at the Convict Station at Chaguanas. But, indeppendently of the objection to locating a school of this sort at a penal station, Chaguanas, appears to me altogether unsuitable, owing to its remoteness and inaccessibility. By land it can only be approached from Port of Spain by a drive of ten miles, and a ride over a very indifferent bridle-road of ten miles more; and by sea it can only be approached or quitted at high- tide. A Reformatory School in such a locality could be under no effective supervision; it would be out of reach of visitations by the officers of Government, or by the clergy and others who might take an interest in the institution; and the boys would be brought up, out of the world, and with no other surroundings about them than those of a Convict Depôt. I conceive that a school established under such auspices, could have little chance of success; and although I greatly regret the consequent delay, I have felt that I had no alternative but to re-open the question, and to endeavour to obtain a suitable site in the neighbourhood of Port of Spain. I have heard of one or two such sites which I think will sufficiently answer the purpose; and I hope to be able very shortly to report to you that the project has taken tangible shape.
I have, &c.
(Signed) HENRY T. IRVING.
Inclosure 1 in No. 8.
Report.
AS I only arrived in the Colony at the end of last July, and, in consequence of the long vacation, had no experience of the practical working of the Criminal Law until October, I do not think I can usefully do more than call attention to some of the more prominent results of the statistics upon which I am called upon to report.
A census of the Colony was taken in 1861 and another in 1871. At the former period the population was 84,138, at the latter 109,038. This gives the decennial increase as 25,200, and therefore the yearly increase as 2,520.
Taking these figures as data, the mean population in each of the four these returns cover is nearly as follows:-
years
which
1871 1872
•
108,600
111,000
1873
113,500
116,000
1874
Therefore, in 1874 the proportion of convictions for crimes tried in the Supreme Criminal Court to population is as follows:-
Murder, other than wife murder
Wife murder
Crimes of any kind, in which life is taken or attempted
1 in 10,000
0.17 +
1.6
11
"Taking crime of all kinds tried in the Supreme Criminal Court, we have the following convictions per 10,000 of population
1871
1872
1878 1874
*
:::
6.7
9.6
8.1 7.6
The estimates of population are of course liable to various sources of error, but it may, I think, be safely assumed that this error never amounts to one-ninth of the estimated number-an allowance which admits the possibility of an error of 12,000 in’ the 108,500, the computed population of 1871.
This error is amply compensated by diminishing the proportions above given by one-tenth.
It is therefore, I think, clear that the proportions of crime per 10,000 are not under the following rates:-
In 1874.
Murder, other than wife murder Wife murdor
++
Crime of any kind, in which life is taken or attempted
:::
0.9
0-15
1:4
Crime of all kinde—
In 1871
1872
1873 1874
::::
::::
37
::::
::::
::::
5.1
8.6
7:3
6.8
Taking the population of England and Wales at 24,000,000, if the Trinidad crime rate of 1874 obtained there, we should have for one year the following minimum actual results :-
Murder, other than wife murder
Wife murder
Crime of any kind, in which life is taken or attempted Crime of all kinds
2,160
360 3,360
16,320
It will be seen that so far as serious crime, that is, crime dealt with in the Supreme Criminal Court, is concerned, the year 1874 exhibits a less rate than 1872 or 1873, but a slightly greater rate than 1871.
The respective numbers of convictions and acquittals in the Supreme Criminal Court are as follows:-
1871
1872
1873
1874
Convictions.
Acquittals.
62
60
107
36
93 88
82/ 25
so that in 1871 and 1873 the acquittals nearly equalled the convictions, while in 1872 and 1874 the convictions execeded the acquittals by more than three (to one. I am unable to assign any cause for this difference in results.
In estimating the value of our criminal statistics, the peculiar character of our population should not be lost sight of.
The coolie immigration constantly introduces numbers of persons who remain among us for a limited time only, and who come with characters formed under influences in which Trinidad has had no share. The crime of this section of the population is no criterion of the general law-abidingness of the community
I think it would render the statistics here of greater value if the cases where the criminal is an indentured labourer were kept distinct from the other cases. If this were done, I believe that the crime-rate at all event for serious crime, would be found favourable to the character of the permanent population.
two to one. 853 females.
There were in 1874 two convictions for wife murder, both, I believe, amongst the immigrant population.
Amongst indentured immigrants the males exceed the females in the ratio of about In 1874, of the immigrants embarked at Calcutta, 1,687 were males and
These murders generally arise from a man's wife or reputed wife leaving him for some other man, and the best mode of dealing effectively with the offence is not easy to discover.
The ideas of a Hindu as to the conjugal relation and as to the value of human life seem to differ essentially from those of Europeans. According to the best information I can obtain, he considers himself as having the same rights in his wife as in a valuable chattel, and accordingly considers that he is entitled to destroy the chattel if it is wrongfully taken from him; and if he is hanged for this, it is regarded more as ill- luck than as a just punishment. Moreover, as a Hindu generally cares very little for death, and the Colony is continually receiving a fresh supply of immigrants imbued with the same ideas, the deterrent effect of this punishment is not great."
A gentlemen of great experience here has suggested that a series of floggings on the estates where a wife-murder was committed would be much more deterrent than the execution of the criminal. If this be so, the suggestion appears to deserve attention, as the present mode of punishment would seem to be a mere useless waste of human life.
With reference to offences dealt with by District Magistrates, it is impossible not to be struck by the difference which exists in the various districts between the propor tions of the dismissals, for want of prosecution or at the hearing, and the convictions. The following analysis will illustrate this :—-
In four districts-Eastern District of St. George's; Port of Spain and Western
(404)
L
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
19 TT CO. 885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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