CRIME IN FIJI.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 234, 4 October 1927, Page 7

CRIME IN FIJI.

A REMARKABLE DECREASE. THE INDIAN POPULATION. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SUVA, Sept. 28. The presentation of white gloves to a justice is at any time the cause for congratulation, for it is an evidence that crime is not as prevalent as might hav<> been the case. But when the presentation affords the opportunity- of making such a statement as that made last week by his Honor the Chief Justice at the Suva criminal sessions, the occasion becomes of special significance. His Honor said that 15 months before he had been similarly honoured. On that occasion he had made a statement regarding the diminution of crime within the colony, which had "been sent Home by his Excellency in a dispatch, and which had been favourably commented upon by the Secretary of State, and had reflected well upon the colony, as the facts had been forwarded to the India Office. He went on to say that in 191.1 there were 111 criminal cases. These dropped down to 70, then to 34 in 1923, and this year they had so far had only nine criminal cases throughout the whole colony, which he was glad to say was the lowest ever recorded. He believed that much of this decrease in crime was due to the abolition of the indenture system, but he felt that a further reason lay in the fact that the sexes were becoming more even among the Indian population. In 1924 the Indian population was 53,589. Of these, 34,243 wer» males and 19,346 females. Last year the figures of the total population of Indians were 68,733, being composed of 41,460 males and 27,273 females. Hi< Honor said it might here be of inferos t to kno\y that, while in 1914 the toUil population of the colony was 155,167. to-day it had risen to 171,644, t?i ■ increase being made up of l.i,on«i Indians, 476 Chinese, 626 Fijians, 26H Rotumans, 506 half-castes, and 33-1 I others, while decreases showed fewer Europeans and 614 Polynesians. These facts were striking. The position to-day was satisfactory.