conviction were made against 17,648. These figures represent 41 per cent. and 47 per cent. of the total respectively, and it is interesting to note that in the case of persons tried by the ordinary Courts of Summary Jurisdiction, the corresponding ratios were 80 per cent. and 10 per cent. The number of persons under 16 who were dealt with without conviction was very nearly the same as in 1912, and almost exactly a quarter of them (4,465) were placed under the supervision of probation officers. Probation orders were also made in respect of 6,592 other persons against whom offences were proved, making a total of 11,057 orders for

the year.

The figures relating to Extradition and Fugitive Offenders are, as usual, small. There were 66 applications received from foreign Governments for the surrender of criminals, one less than in the previous year; but the number of applications made by the British Government was exactly double (18). Under the Fugitive Offenders Act, seven persons were brought to this country and six fugitives from the Colonies were sent back for trial.

The number of prosecutions undertaken by the Director of Public Prosecutions was 486, a decrease of 76 from the previous year; and the number of defendants was 623 as against 727 in 1912: 552 of these persons were charged with indictable offences, and 388 convicted, while 71 were charged with non-indictable offences and 58 convicted.

The Police Returns have already been referred to in dealing with the figures relating to persons tried for indictable offences; and though there is no need to examine them in detail, a few of the main totals may be noted. As previously stated, the number of indictable offences which came to the notice of the Police was 97,933, and for these 60,633 persons were arrested and 8,632 were dealt with by summons, making a grand total of 69,265 persons prosecuted. The result of these prosecutions was that of the total 15'5 per cent.

were discharged; just over 39 per cent. were convicted and sentenced; in 26.8 per cent. of the cases, the charge was proved and an order made without a conviction being recorded; and in the remainder, excluding a very small number otherwise disposed of, the defendants were committed for trial at Assizes or Quarter Sessions.

We may now pass on to the Penal Statistics, which include the returns of persons received into local prisons, Borstal Institutions, and Reformatory and Industrial Schools. It has already been noted that the prison population was nearly doubled by the number of persons received in default of payment of fines. Besides these, there were 28 persons under sentence of death and 815 with sentences of penal servitude, the first portion of which is served in a local prison, the period varying in most cases from one to three months. There were also 16,600 persons received on remand or committal for trial who were afterwards discharged or acquitted. Rather more than 90,000 of those sentenced to imprisonment were ordered hard labour, and 47,000 odd were imprisoned without hard labour. The majority of the latter were placed in the third division, generally, no doubt, because there were no special circumstances which would justify their being given preferential treatment: 31 were placed in the first division and 1,609 in the second, but the latter figure, though an increase of 81 on the number so treated last year, seems a small proportion of the 45,000 odd who were not identified as having been previously convicted. The figures for Borstal Institutions are practically the same as in 1912, the number of admissions being 471 males and 48 females as against 481 and 50 in the previous year. The number of youthful offenders received into Reformatory Schools was 1,224-a decrease of 776—and the number of admissions to Industrial Schools had also decreased, though not to the same extent, and a slightly higher proportion of those admitted were

charged with crime. The total number of criminal lunatics confined in asylums at the end of the year was 1,164, of whom 984 were in State asylums and the remainder in county and borough asylums. Local asylums are required by Statute to receive criminal lunatics, but it appears that they have now been largely relieved from the care of such patients, doubtless through the increased accommodation available in the new State Asylum at Rampton. This also accounts for the closing of Parkhurst as an asylum during the year; only one person was received there as a criminal lunatic during 1913, and none were detained as such at the end of the

year.

The only other Table that requires notice is that dealing with the Prerogative of Mercy, which was exercised in 245 cases. Of the 28 persons sentenced to death 12 were reprieved and the sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life; 6 sentences of penal servitude and imprisonment were commuted to less severe punishments; remission of sentence was allowed in 185 other cases and 6 free pardons were granted; in 91 cases remission was granted on medical grounds, and only 7 persons were released on grounds affecting the original conviction.

PART II.-CIVIL STATISTICS.1

Once more these Statistics have been edited by Sir John Macdonell, King's Remembrancer, and Senior Master of the Supreme Court. With certain exceptions, the Annual Tables have substantially maintained the same form as in the Returns for 1912. Table L has been simplified, and Table LXX omitted owing to the temporary reduction in the staff of the Statistical Branch of the Home Office.

1 Judicial Statistics, England and Wales, 1913. Part II.-Civil Judicial Statistics. London: Wyman & Sons. 1915.

Table LXXXVII, relating to the proceedings before the Public Trustee, is an entirely new departure.

The gradual diminution of legal business which has characterised the Returns for the last decade has been maintained. In the proceedings commenced in all Courts the decrease compared with 1912 is but slight-1,355,152 for 1913, as against 1,368,423 for 1912. Compared with 1904, there is a decline of 10'78 per cent. In proceedings actually heard and determined, there is, however, a slight increase over those of 1912-429,718 for 1913, as against 426,867 for 1912. This represents a decline of 13.60 per cent. from the figures for 1904. With an increase in the population, a decline in the volume of business compared with the population is a necessary sequence. Proceedings commenced were 3,670°57 per 100,000 of population in 1913, as against 3,745'03 in 1912. Proceedings heard and determined were 1,163'94 per 100,000 of population in 1913, as against 1,168°23 in 1912.

For this general decline the County Courts, where the great bulk of the business of the country is conducted, are once more responsible. To the cause of this decline we shall refer later. Proceedings in those Courts touched the highest point in 1904, after an almost continuous rise since 1894. Since 1904, with the exception of three years, 1908, 1909, and 1910, there has been a corresponding decline. The diminution commenced since 1910 has been. continued in the succeeding years.

Turning to the figures relating to the particular Courts, we find a substantial increase in the Appellate Courts in the number of proceedings commenced compared with those for the preceding year. They number 1,515, as against 1,377 for 1912. On the other hand, in the number of appeals and actions, &c., heard and determined, there was an almost corresponding decrease- -1,090, as against 1,110 for 1912.

Upon analysis of these figures, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and the Court of Appeal are found to share responsibility for the increase in proceedings commenced. In the case of the former, appeals entered increased from 100 to 141, and in the case of the latter, final appeals increased from 587 to 637, and interlocutory appeals from 188 to 228. Of the appeals to the Judicial Committee, 65 are from India, 73 from Colonial Courts, one from China, and two from Jersey. Whilst the increase from India is insignificant, that from Colonial Courts is almost doubled. From Canada the increase is very marked. From the Dominion Supreme Court the increase is from 6 to 15, whilst that from the Provincial Courts is only little more than maintained, being raised from 21 to 22. By Order in Council of 1911, appeals from Provincial Courts direct to the King in Council have been permitted as an alternative to an appeal to a Dominion Supreme Court. The increase is chiefly due to this cause, and indicates the estimation in which the Judicial Committee is held in the Dominions. There is also a big jump in the appeals from the High Court of the Commonwealth of Australia, from one to eight. As the decisions in the Supreme Courts of the Dominions are subject to certain statutory reservations, this increase is somewhat remarkable. In the applications for special leave to appeal, an increase is also observable, but of 64 petitions for special leave, no fewer than 36 were granted. One appeal, that from the Seychelles, which attracted considerable public attention, was in a criminal case, and resulted in the quashing of the judgment and sentence. It was found by the Committee that justice had gravely and injuriously miscarried. But for the large increase in appeals, their Lordships would have somewhat lightened their list. With 132 appeals over from 1912, bringing up the total to be heard to 273, they succeeded in disposing of 107, leaving 166 pending at the end of the year. This is not a very