REPLY TO MR. W. D. LYSNAR BY MR JAS. BODDIE.

Gisborne Times, Volume L, Issue 5139, 3 April 1919, Page 3

REPLY TO MR. W. D. LYSNAR BY MR JAS. BODDIE.

(Published by arrangement.) I am sorry I inadvertently misled Mr Lysnar in my recent letter re arrests. I should have referred to. criminal cases, including arrcl,t s and summonses. Mr Lysnar will find the total figures Qn taking the tables 8C28—1945 and Blue Book. Law and Crime, 1914. or if he wishes to keep to the Year. Book, 1917, which he himself has quoted, he will find the following totals, including all criminal cases (arrests and summonses), on the very page he has referred us to, viz, 205.

"Which gives an average for the four years of 4-5,696 criminal cases tried in our Courts- each year, in the Dominion.

My figures for theft are also taken from the above Blue Book. Mr Lysnar here tries to draw a red herring t across the ;scent.. Ido not state\that the 2648 offences _ against property wer/ by 2648 distinct persons; find if, /instead of turning to page 20e of the 1917 Year Book to wliieh \e r/fers, he had waited to -look atVnn/e 206, he would have found corroborated. The figuSp there given are:— Offences against. Year f \ Property. 1913 f ..\ 2852 1914'J ...\ 2740 19151 ... \ 1915 1916 J ... \ 2360 As anjf reader ca%. easily obtain a 1917 Ye® - Book ano%check up these figures for themselves! by turning to pages 205 and 206, it i&liardly necessary to say that my figures are absolutely correct, when word “arrests” is deleted and the words “total criminal charges” substituted, which includes ajvests and 'summonWliile ,T"apwiCcinte w\e spirit of ilMr L/snar’s letter/ I cannot but diffeJpfwith his Yjosfng paragraph, he stat3fe;?thatprohibition feapld result in\“oui#best class of lnlSpirepaying £3 \ £4rfor a steerage passage to AustralVi#Surely- Air Lysnar does not either himself or labonyustice when he suggests that the men who would travel all the way from New Zealand to Australia to get liquor constitute “our best class of labor.” It is my candid opinion that when prohibition is carried scarcely a man will leave the Dominion, but if they do, they will be our worst, and not our heist, workmen. jas - boddie.

Year. ' Proportion No. Per 1000 1913 of Population. ... 46,847 43 1914 ... 49,371 45 1915 ... 45,505 41 1916 ... 41,060 37