STATISTICS.

Press, Volume III, Issue 286, 30 September 1863, Page 3

STATISTICS.

The following arc a curious collection of statistics of the most varied description, taken from the Times. Women asd Crime.—The judicial statistics of England for the last year show that among the .persons brought before tho tribunals there were about four men to one women. The results of the trials for indictable crimes are only given for the whole number of the accused, without distinction of sex, but of the persons summarily dealt with by the magistrates we learn that the men convicted were 697 per cent, of the men charged, but the women convicted were only 549 per cent, of the women charged, so that 14*8 per cent, more of the women got off than of the men. Of the 33,364 females who passed through the country borough prisons in the year, 15,268 had been in prison before—a much larger proportion than among the men ; and of those persons who had been in prison more than ten times before, 2,968 were women and only 1,085 were men. Of the women committed for trial in the course of the year for indictable offences 30 were charged with murder, 14 with attempts to murder, 14 with wounding with intent to main, 36 with manslaughter, 40 with burglary, 77 with housebreaking, 11 with breaking into shops, 35 with robbery and assaults to rob by persons armed in company, 17 with bigamy, 4 with child-stealing. The year was marked by the execution of one woman, Catherine Wilson, the poisoner.

In Prison. —The country and borough prisons of England received within their doors in the year ending at Michaelmas, 1862, 13,255 debtors, 2,012 persons charged with military or nava. offences, 3,038 persons ordered to find sureties 9,260 persons remanded, but afterwards discharged, 20,282 persons committed for trial and tried at assizes and sessions, 92,895 persons summarily convicted by magistrates—in all 141,712. This is an increase of 12,50-4 over the number in 1861, following an increase of about the same number in that year over 1860. From these country and borough prisons 136,255 persons were discharged in the course of the year, 156 were removed to lunatic asylums, !) escaped, 16 were executed, and 199 were released by death, 10 of the number being suicides. From the convict prisons 466 prisoners were transported to Western Australia and 657 to Gibralter, 34 were removed to lunatic asylums, 5 escaped, 70 died, and 2,650 were discharged, 2,380 of them on ticket of leave, before their time.

DncNKARDS.—In the year ending at Michaelmas _ last 94,908 persons —200 a day—were proceeded against before justices in England for drunkenness, or for being drunk and disorderly, and 63,225 of these were convicted. The great majority were only fined, but above 7000 were committed to prison. The returns show a great increase over the previous year, for only 82,126 were then charged with drunkenness, and only 54,123 convicted. Of the persons thus charged in the last year 22,560 were lemale-, and more than 10,000 women were convicted for being drunk. Coroners' inquests in the year 1862 found 211 verdicts of deaths from excessive drinking, 115 men and 66 women thus ended their days.

Pensions.—The finance accounts for the past ' year, which have just been issued, give, as usunl, i a rather serious list of pensions charged upon the \ consolidated fund, and therefore no otherwise : stated than in these accounts. Among the largest 1 entries are five ex-Chancellors of England receiving £5000 a year each, two ex-Chancellors of Ireland ! with £3,692, four retired English judges with £3,500, two Irish with £2,400, aud five County Court judges dividing £4,600 between them. But thes are pensions earned by personal service; perhaps not so much can be said of some others. The Earl of Ellenborough has a compensation annuity of £7,700 as chief clerk of the Court of Queen's Bench ; the Rev. T. Thurlow, £4,028 as clerk of the hanaper, in addition to £7,352 as patentee of bankrupts. Viscount Avonmore receives £4,199 as late registrar of the Irish Court of Chancery ; the Earl of Roden £2,098 as late auditor-general of the Irish Exchequer. But these pensions will come to nn end ; even that cannot be said of some others. Thero is above £23,000 a year paid in perpetual pensions, payable as long at least as there shall be an Earl Amherst or Nelson, a Lord Rodney, a Viscount Exmouth, an heir of William Peuu, or of the Duke of Sehomberg, and so forth. Of (he limited number of first-class pensions of £2,000 a year to statesmen who have been in high office, and who claim the pensions, only two are now payable —viz., to Lord Glenelj; aud Mr. Disraeli ; Sir G. Grey's is suspended, lie being again in office. Several pensions ceased in the course of the year ; among them that to the family of George Canning and that to the doorkeeper of the Irish House of Lords, but the housekeeper still lives to receive her annual compensation for loss of emoluments by the Union.

Ecclesiastical Fees.—A return just issued gives a curious list of fees payable by members of the sacred profession. Tlie Bishop of Lichfield had to pay £624 on his appointment to that see ; tlie Bishop of Bath and Wells £ 150 on his translation from Sodor and Man. To this prelate the Attorney-General, or "his office," presented a demand for nearly £30 ; tho Secretary of State (including stamp), £23; a mysterious impersonality, " the Petty Bag-office," absorbed £167. When the Bishop had liis audienco of Her Majesty the homage fees were £91, and the Court Circular charged a guinea for its line and a half of history. The bill winds up with an item of £21 for tlie serious labour of " passing documents through the various offices." The fees paid to bishops or their officers seem to vary in different diocesses. The claim of tlie registrar of the diocess of York is described in the following fashion : —" 34 persons ordained at Is. Sd. each, £2 16s. Bd." In Salisbury the registrar's fee is ss. ; in Durham the charge on ordination (probably including the fees of all officers) is stated to be £2 per candidate. There are fees paid by the clergy to the Bishop at his visitation for " procurations and synodals ;" in the diocess of York they amounted to £153 at the last visitation, nnd the registrar's fees to £30. The registrar of Bath and Wells gives a consecration bill for £22, and says it is tho average amount in that diocess. j ScnooL-HOCSES. —The number of school-houses built last year in couuexion with Church of England schools was 101, and the number enlarged or improved was 72. The total amount awarded out of Parliamentary grants was £50,237 ; the total amount subscribed by the promoters was £112,295 ; and the total expended was £193,320. The number of additional children accommodated by tlie new buildings was 28,139, and accommodation was also afforded for 2,370 children by the enlargement of previously existing schools; making an aggregate of 30,509. These statistics, of course, apply only to cases in which Government aid was sought, but there were probably only a few exceptional instances in which it was notdesired and obtained. The number of new school-houses built last year with the assistance of tlie Committee of Council on education by the Wesleyan, Roman Catholic, &c., bodies, was 28, and the number enlarged or improved was 20. The total amount awarded out of Parliamentary grants was £13,751; the total amount subscribed by the promoters was £32,430 j and the total amount expended was £46,181. The number of additional children accommodated by the new buildings was 7233, and accommodation was also afforded for 873 children by the enlargement of previously existing schools ; making an aggregate of 8106. These figures refer to England and Scotland only.

Shorthand Writing—The shorthand writer of the House of Commons states in his evidence before the Select Committee on Private Bill Legislation that he receives two guineas a-day for attendance before committees to take notes of the evidence, and 9d. per folio of 72 words for makiug a copy from his notes. Last year he received for business thus done for the committees on private Bills £6,667, consisting of £1,682 for attendance fees and £4,985 for the transcripts ; this does not include the charges in respect of committees on public matters. He is appointed for the House of Lords also. So much of the business as he cannot execute by his own establishment he transfers to other shorthand writers on rather lower terms, but lie liimself keeps a staff of ten shorthand writers. Each of these has at least one clerk who cau read his shorthand, but the most efficient course is found to be that he have two such clerks, each of whom (and himself also), taking in hand a portion of the notes, dictates to quick writers, so that the mode of transcribing is by writing from dictation, and not by copying. There is a great strain and pressure in order to get the transcript to the law stationers in time for the requisite number of copies to be ready when the committee meet next morning. In the height of the season, the witness mentions he provides refreshment for about 50 persons employed at liis office during the evening, many of them until midnight, and often later.

A London Street. —In the evidence taken before the Select Committee on the London City Traffic Regulation Bill a curious account is given of St. Swithin's-lano, which leads from near the entrance of Lombard-street to Cannon-street. It is so constantly found blocked up, so fur as the passage of vehicles is conoerned, in consequence of vans and carts loading and unloading at the premises of an eminent firm of wholesale grocers, that the police were instructed to keep a record for three successive days, and this was the result: —On the 29th of June last, in the ten hours between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., the street was blocked up for eight hours and 25 minutes, and open for only one hour and 35 minutes; on the Ist of July the return was substantially the same; on the 30th June the street was closed for only eight hours and ten minutes, and open for one hour and 50 minutes. Two years hence there will be a great railway station near the Camion-street end of tin's " thorough-fare." Game Laws.—Tho returns of proceedings under the game laws before the magistrates in the year ending at Michaelmas last show an increase of 1,618, or 19 per cent., over the previous year. Under trespassing in the daytime in pursuit of game the number of charges rose from 7,629 to 9,144; under night poaching and destroying game, from 823 to 888; under illegally selling or buying game, from 31 cases to 52. The new Poaching Act of last Session did not pass until the 7th of August. The charges made under that Act before (he close of the police year, on the 22th of September, were 17 in number. Rate of th_ Westminst-JB Clock. — The Astronomer Royal reports to the visitors of the Royal Observatory that the rat© of this clock," which records itself at Greenwich daily by galvanic connection, " may be considered certain to much less than ono second a week." The original stipulation was that it should not exceed a second a day, and that was attempted to be set aside a* impracticable by some of the candidates for making the clock. Mr. Airy's testimony to its accuracy is the more valuable, as he had retired in 1853 from the joint superintendence of the work o.i ; ccount of some differences with Mr. Denison, Q.C,

who designed the clock and invented the * gravity escapement" for it, which has since been adopted in other large clocks. It may not be generally known that most of the wheels are of cast iron ; the hands and their appendages weigh about a tou and a half, and the pendulum 6 cwt. Tho dial* are 22i feet wide, or 400 feet in area each, and cost more than the clock itself. The cracked Big Ben still hangs in the tower, with a hole cut in its side, by which Dr. Percy investigated its real state, and rejwrted it as "porous, unhomogeneous, unsound, aud a defective casting."

Railway Travelling i.\ India. —The striking feature in the passenger traffic in India still continues to lie the enormous preponderance of thirdclass travellers. In tho year ending June 30, 1862, there were 61.517 first-class passengers, and 299,820 second-class, but no less than 6,447,055 third-class, to whom may be added 342,958 who travelled fourth-class while carriages of tliat class were run.