A SOBERER PEOPLE

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 92, 15 October 1932, Page 14

A SOBERER PEOPLE

CRIMINAL FIGURES

MR. WOHLMANN'S REPORT

DECREASE IN CRIME

Criminal statistics contained in the annual report of the Commissioner of Police (Mr. W. G. Wohlmann), presented to Parliament, show that there has been a decrease in crime. The most noteworthy decline is in drunkenness, which in two years has decreased 31 per cent. Diminished purchasing power, in conjunction with changing habits of the people, is stated as being responsible for the drop. ' A decrease of from I to 1292 in 1931 to 1 to 1317 last year, in the ratio of police to population, is recorded in the report. It is also shown that the cost per inhabitant has been reduced from 6s o§a to 5s sd. In 1878 the strength of the force was 458, the ratio 'being 1 to 944. The present strength, including temporary constables, is 1157, as -compared with. 1169 last year. The criminal statistics, dealing with, offences reported to the police for the year ended December last, show an aggregate net decrease of 534 on 1930. The proportion of the offences to population was 2.4 per cent., as against 2.46 for the previous year. The increases were in petty theft, theft by clerks, theft- of postal packets, burglary and housebreaking, forgery and uttering false pretences, assaulting or resisting the police, selling liquor after hours, breaches of Arms Act, and breaches of the Motor Vehicles Act. The principal decreases were in indecent assault, arson, breaches of the peace, drunkenness, indecent exposure and grossly indecent acts, use of obscene language, failure to maintain wives or families, breaches of prohibition orders, being on licensed premises after hours, and attempted sucide. "The increase in cases of theft and burglary can be attributed largely to economic stress with consequent unemployment," states the report. "The increases in 1930 were: Thefts 1168, burglary,'etc., 171. In 1931: Thefts 559, burglary, etc., 345. The most noteworthy decrease is in drunkenness, la 1930 there was a decrease fi'om 6810 to 6125, and in 1931 from 6125 to 4687. In two years there was a decrease of 2123 prosecutions, or 31 per cent. This increase in sobriety is probably affected by decreased purchasing power, in conjunction with changing habits of the people." CASES OF MURDER. The percentage of arrests or summonses resulting from offences reported during 1931 was 89.03, as compared with 90.53 for the previous year. Eeturns in connection with serious crimes show that in the last two years there have been increases in both the number of offences reported and the number of offences in which arrests resulted. In 1930, seven offences for murder were reported and. seven were made. In 1931, thirteen such, offences were reported, and nine arrests were made. "The increase in the cases of murder, although to be noticed with serious regret, should not be regarded as abnormal," states the Teport. "There were thirteen cases of murder in 1920, 1926, and 1927, and over the past thirteen years the average number has been 9.5. The circumstances in which these crimes are committed indicate that they are not preventable by any police measures. Of the 13 murders in, 1931, prosecutions resulted in nine cases, and in one case the offender committed suicide immediately after committing" the crime, leaving but three so far undetected. In two instances abandoned infants were found "in circumstances indicating that they had. been murdered." '-■ ■ :. The report shows that in indecent and sexual offences the number dropped from 605 in 1930 to 489 in 1931. Comparison is made in the report with convictions for drunkenness per I ten thousand of the population in Aus-j tralia and New Zealand for the years 1926 to 1930. In the following compari-1 sons, the Commonwealth is mentioned first: 99.5, 53; 101.3, 44.6; 94.27, 43.2: | 89.5, 46.3; 73, 42.4. I THE GAMING ACT. There were 354 prosecutions, resulting in 324 convictions during the year under the Gaming Act, as against 398 prosecutions and 314 convictions in 1930. In the following returns showing the result of prosecutions in connection with bookmaking during the year ended 31st March, 1932, the number of prosecutions is given first, the number of convictions second, and- the amount of fines imposed third: —Carrying on business of bookmaker: 36, 34, £1696 10s; keeping common gaming house: 58, 49, £2091 10s; found in common gaming house: 12, 8, £10; laying totalisato? odds: 21, 18, £204; publishing betting I charts: 10, 6, £49 10s; betting with bookmaker: 1,1, £40; loitering for betting purposes: 4, 4, £180. Totals- 142 120, £4271 10s.

The following return shows the number of convictions for which fines were imposed, and the total amount in respect of prosecutions instituted by the police, for the- year ended 31st March

Fines payable to Consolidated Fund£23,00,3; 10,481 convictions; fines payable to Main Highways Revenue Fund (section 24, Motor Vehicles Act, 1924) £7773, 3986 convictions; fines payable #9-«CaJo- aUthorities W™ ounces), &Joo, 330 convictions. Total fines imposed, £31,032, 14,802 convictions bmce the introduction of the fingerprint system of identification in 1903 the number of prints in collection has grown to 45,692.