Cost of the Irish Police.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3263, 23 July 1889, Page 2

Cost of the Irish Police.

Government by an occupation is always expensive remarkjiltuEnglish exchange, It appears from the Civil Service Estimates that the cos' of Irish Constabulary—which,, though really an armed force, is treated as a branch of the Civil Service-is about five times as great in proportion to the population as that of the police of England and Wales. The total estimate for the. Constabulary needed to control five millions of Irish, or rather to impose upon them a system of government which thoy detest, is £1,489,871. In another part of the Estimates it appears that Parliament will be called upon next year' to contribute snly £55,586, towards the cost of the police -of England and Wales (the remainder of the cost falling on the local funds), and £156,000, for the similar force north of the Tweed. But it is also shown that the estimated actual cost of the Metropolitan Police last year was £588,520,, and that of the counties » and boroughs of England and Wales - was £875,286. Now the area controlled by the Metropolitan polico alone contains '• a population not greatly differing from that of all Ireland, and the remaining counties and boroughs contain four times as many. Thus it comes about that twenty-six millions of people on this side of the liish sea are kept in order at a cost of £1,458)806., while on its western side the misgoverninent of landlord magistrates, and the imposition of an infamous system of coercion calls for an outlay of £1,439, It is curious to noto that while there is this great difference in the proportionate cost of tho police, the actual outlay on prison accommodation shows far less disparity. Thus Irish prisons call for £131,064. Scottish prisons for £100,324, and tho prisons of England and Wales ior about £670,000. Now, if we take tho population of Ireland at five millions, that of Scotland at four millions, and allow ■ twenty-six millions for England and (ti Wales, we can easily compare the ' prison estimates. In Scotland it is £25,000 for each million, in England and Wales it is less than £27,000, and in Ireland it is slightly more than £2G,000. Probably it would bo diflicult to find a better test of the ; criminal statistics of the three ( kingdoms; hencejtho costliness of the | Irish constabulary arises, not from the crime thoy have to deal with, but rather fcom tho system which is administered by them. And great 1 as this cost is, it must not be forgotten that we also maintain in Ire- ■ land a respectable army of soldiers 1 1 who are constantly called upon to do ! the work of tho constabulary. Thd escort and conveyance of prisoners from one place to another reaches tho 1 totol of £12,000, or half as much tis 1 their food and twice as much as their clothing; and £9,000, or threequarters of this is attributed entirely to the Prisons Amendment Act of 1884. The British taxpayer should/ turn over some of these little facts iifflj t his mind, and reflect whether it i ™ 1 worth while to draw so heavily oii i his own pockets for the maintenance t of a system which lias to be bolstered ; up by Mr Balfour's costly myrmidons.