The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. TUESDAY, JULY 14, 1914. THE POLICE REPORT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 70, 14 July 1914, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. TUESDAY, JULY 14, 1914. THE POLICE REPORT.

The annual report of the Commissioner of Police has just been presented to Parliament. As usual it contains some interesting statistics dealing with the force itself, and also with crime in the Colony. The criminal statistics, it is pleasing to note, show an aggregate net decrease of 566 on the figures of 1912. The proportion of offences to the population was 2.24 per cent., as against 2.35 the previous year. The number of serious offences reported was 614, and 516 persons were arrested. Of the offences reported, 365 were burglaries and thefts from shops and dwellings. During the last ten years the number of serious crimes has varied from 520 to 759, the present total being slightly below the average. The number of indecent and sexual offences was 453, as against 427 the previous year. Details regarding drink and drunkenness show that there lias been a decrease of one hundred and seventyseven in the number of persons prosecuted for this offence during the year, as compared with the previous year, the figures for the year being 11,707, as against 11,884 for the previous year. Of the convictions for the year, 10,940 were males and 757 females, and 6362 males and 240 females wore reported as not having been previously convicted. The records of the principal towns m arrests for drunkenness were as follow:—Auckland, 2272 males, 160 females; Wellington, 2757 males, 303 females; Christchurch, 1398 males, 125 females; Dunedin, 898 males, 76 females. Those figures represent decreases in arrests for the year of 210 for Auckland, 285 for Wellington, 182 for Christchurch, and an increase of 171 for Dunedin. It might l>e suggested that the apparent increase, in drunkenness in such a very sober and prosperous community as the people of Dunedin undoubtedly comprise, may ho attributed to the large area of no-license country comparatively near at hand, from which numbers of visitors and holiday-makers resort to Dunedin. It is again interesting to note that there has been a very great falling off in the prosecutions and convictions for offences under the Gaming Acts, and that while there were 206 prosecutions, resulting in 133 convictions,

during the year under review, there were no less than 345 prosecutions and 301 convictions in 1912. As to the Police Force itself at the end of the last financial year, the strength was eight hundred and seventy of all ranks, being an increase of twentyfour during the year. The Commissioner (Mr J. Cullen) states that the conduct of the members of the force, on the whole, has been very satisfactory. He further expresses the view that the conditions under which the New Zealand Police are now serving are better than those obtaining in any other Police Service in the British Empire. As most people are aware, and the Commissioner now confirms, the existing force is inadequate and an additional fifty men is required to meet the police needs of the community. Amongst other interesting points in the report is one in which the Commissioner deals with homes for policemen, says: “The Government has been expending considerable sums of money in various localities in providing workers’ homes, and I am of opinion that if a similar scheme applied to this department could be carried out very satisfactory results would accrue. m providing workers’ homes the land upon which the houses are erected has to be purchased, but this would not be necessary in the case of this department, as there are ample Government sites lying idle in many towns. The total amount which the department has paid in house allowances to members of the force during the past ten years is £64,500, the annual expenditure under this heading having increased from £3500 in 1904 to £10,280 last vear.”