increase in the prevalence of this sort of crime, as they are somewhat difficult to interpret owing to the change in the law affected by the Children Act, 1908, by which an indecent assault on a person under 16 is punishable summarily, and also from the fact that an indecent assault on a young person is not in law a different offence from any other indecent assault.

Forgery and offences against the currency have shown very little fluctuation during the last two decades, the slight movement being in the right direction. Arson has become more prevalent, there being 30 per cent. more offences of this nature than in any of the five years prior to 1898; but the increase has been fairly steady since then, the last three quinquennial averages being 125, 151 and 166. The other crimes classed as malicious injury to property are not common, as they include the comparatively rare exploits of destroying ships and destroying railways; but to this generalization there is one important exception, namely, the offences given in the Tables as "other malicious injuries." A reference to the list of indictable offences contained in Appendix A shows that destroying objects of art, injuring post letter-boxes or their contents and other injuries to property to an amount exceeding £5 all come under this heading, and when this is remembered, it is not surprising to find that the number of such offences in 1912 was 371 as compared with an average of 200 for the previous 19 years, and that it is no less than 106 in excess of the corresponding figure for 1911, which was itself a record at that date. Only 349 persons actually came before the Courts for these offences, but of them 156 were females, and this confirms the not unnatural supposition that the offenders were largely drawn from the ranks of those interested in the Women's Suffrage movement.

The indictable offences not included in the classes already enumerated do not present any features of special interest,

but though there has lately been no entry against the three headings of high treason, extortion by officers and piracy, it it is perhaps worth noting that these crimes have all been committed within the last 20 years, and that five persons were tried for the last-named as recently as 1894.

The next figures to be considered are those of nonindictable offences, which are subdivided as usual into two main classes according as they are criminal or not criminal in character, the latter consisting mainly of breaches of municipal regulations for the safety, health and comfort of the public, which, though technically criminal, do not involve violence, cruelty, or gross dishonesty. The total of both classes has varied very considerably during the last 20 years, the extremes being 600,249 in 1893 and 755,541 in 1899; but since 1905 it has never reached 700,000, though there has been a tendency to rise during the last three years, the latest figure being 663,139. It is interesting to note that the fluctuations in these totals have, without exception, followed a corresponding rise or fall in the number of noncriminal offences, though, with the occurrence of a practically steady decrease in those of a criminal character, the totals show less variation. The nearly continuous diminution of criminal offences is satisfactory, especially as the greatest fall occurs under the heading of assaults, which numbered only 42,867 in 1912 as against 75,862 in 1893. Stealing, unlawful possession, etc., and malicious damage have also decreased, though in a much lesser degree. Among the non-criminal offences, vagrancy and offences against the Highway Acts have increased considerably. Drunkenness and offences against police bye-laws and regulations are also more prevalent, though they have tended to diminish somewhat during the last ten years; and the only real and steady decrease has manifested itself in relation to offences against the Education Acts and the laws and regulations as to dogs. The last two Comparative Tables (D and E),

though interesting in themselves, are less so than the preceding ones, and only a brief reference to them is needed. here. Table D contains the number of indictable offences reported to the police as committed in each year from 1893 to 1912, and they agree fairly closely with, and tend to confirm, the conclusions to be drawn from the statistics of persons tried. Table E is a general summary of all the preceding tables, and gives the proportions of the various offences per 100,000 of the population since 1857; and as this question of proportion has been already referred to in dealing with indictable offences, it may be noted here that there is a decrease by rather more than one-seventh in the average per 100,000 in the non-indictable offences also, though their total is greater. Whether the average should not have fallen much more considering the huge access to the population is a matter of opinion, but the position does not seem wholly satisfactory. The figures relating to previous convictions of persons received into prison under sentence (Table XXXVI) tend rather to support a pessimistic view when it is seen, by a comparison with Table XXXVII, that over 56,000 are apparently first offenders; and though it is possible to attach too much weight to these figures, as they are dependent upon the accuracy with which a person's previous record is traceable, yet it must be remembered that the methods of identification have been greatly improved of late years, and that the number of first offenders who are now dealt with under the Probation of Offenders Act, 1907, and are not committed to prison, is increasing.

We may now turn to the annual Tables, fifty-two in number, of which two, Nos. XLII and XLIIA, have already been dealt with. The first ten of the annual Tables contain particulars of proceedings before Courts of Assize and Quarter Sessions (including criminal trials in the High Court of Justice) and before the Court of Criminal Appeal,

and at the outset it is interesting to discover that in 1912 there was one case tried in the King's Bench Division of the High Court, the offence coming under the head of "other nuisances." This was no doubt the case of R. v. Ascanio, Puck & Company, Ltd. (29 Times Law Reports 11), in which the defendants were charged with selling food unfit for human consumption. They were acquitted. The number of persons for trial at Assizes was 4,051, of whom 3,662 were males and 389 females, and at Quarter Sessions 9,233, of whom exactly 1,000 were females, making a grand total of 13,284. Of these, however, only 13,037 were actually tried, 35 being found by the jury insane on arraignment and unfit to plead, while in 208 cases the Grand Jury did not find true bill," and in six cases the prosecution was not proceeded with. Of the persons who were tried 2,077 were acquitted, and of the remaining 10,960 who were convicted, 29 were found to be insane at the time they committed the offence, the jury returning a special verdict under the Trial of Lunatics Act, 1883. All but three of these persons who were found "guilty but insane" had been charged with offences against the person and 15 of them with murder, the last figure being somewhat striking when it is seen that the number convicted of murder in the ordinary way and sentenced to death was only 25. In some of the cases when the prisoner was found guilty he was discharged without sentence, or sentence was postponed sine die, but by far the majority, 7,665, received sentences of imprisonment, of which 2,348 were passed at Assizes and 5,317 at Quarter Sessions. Sentences of penal servitude were passed in 876 cases, of which rather more than half were at Quarter Sessions, and 1,695 were ordered to enter into recognizances to come up for judgment when called upon, of whom 722 were placed under the supervision of a probation officer in addition.

Applications were made to the Court of Criminal Appeal

for leave to appeal by 615 of the persons convicted on indictment, eight fewer than in 1911, and there were only 74 whose applications were successful as against 109 the previous year. The total number of appeals for hearing was 114, that is to say, 40 in addition to the 74 already mentioned, 30 of these being on grounds involving questions of law, five on a certificate from the judge who presided at the original trial, and five against sentences of preventive detention. Only 29 of these appeals were completely successful and resulted in the discharge of the appellant, but in 19 other cases the conviction or sentence was altered.

In addition to these, there were ten cases which came before the Court of Criminal Appeal otherwise than in the ordinary course, but in only three was the conviction quashed. Two were cases stated under the Crown Cases Act, 1848; seven were referred to the Court by the Home Secretary on petitions for an exercise of the Prerogative of Mercy; and one was sent to the House of Lords on the fiat of the Attorney-General and was referred back to the Court of Appeal for judgment to be entered on the order of the House.

The proportion of successful appeals is thus seen to be very small when compared with the number of convictions, and it would no doubt be much smaller if it were not for the fact that the number of frivolous applications is kept within bounds by the provisions that the Court of Criminal Appeal has power to increase a sentence if the prisoner appeals against it, and that the time during which he is specially treated in prison as an appellant, pending the final decision, does not count as part of the sentence unless the Court makes a special order to that effect.

Passing now to proceedings before Courts of Summary Jurisdictions, particulars of which are given in Tables XI to XVI, it must be remembered that besides the 663,139 nonindictable offences already referred to as committed in 1912,