SUPREME COURT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 19, 21 September 1915, Page 8

SUPREME COURT.

MASTERTON FIGURES. Pub Pbebb (Absooxaxdon. Masterton, September 20. Tlie Supreme Court opened to-day before Sir Robert Stout. There was only one criminal case, alleged breaking and entering. Sir Robert Stout, in his address to the jury, said: “I heartily congratulate you oo the diminution of crime, especially in Masterton. in 1908 you resolved to make an experiment by the abolition of the open saloon. In 1908 the number of offences of all kinds reported was 512, while in 1914 the number had fallen to 151. In the case of convictions the same result is shown. There were in 1908 401 summary convictions, that is, convictions for petty offences or breaches of the law and bylaws; in 1914 there were only 96. A pleasing feature of the figures is that while in 1908 20 women were convicted, 10 of the convictions being for drunkenness, in 1914 only four were convicted, and of these only one was for drunkenness. The figures are similar in the case of serious offences. In 1908 40 persons were sent to the Supreme Court for trial and 25 were convicted ; in 1911 there were only 11. eight of these being convicted. So far as convictions for drunkenness are concerned, the decrease is marked. In 1908 tlih convictions for drunkenness were 502; in 1914 they were 40. I also lind that there are fewer civil cases ill the Magistrate’s Court and debts are more easily collected.”