CRIMINAL STATISTICS OF GLASGOW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6362, 8 April 1882, Page 5

CRIMINAL STATISTICS OF GLASGOW.

We have to acknowledge the receipt, from the Chief Constable of Glasgow, of a cepy of the criminal returns of the City of Glasgow Police for the year ending December l>l, ISSI. The report is interesting in many ways. From it we learn that the total number of criminals reported iu the City of Glasgow during ISSI was 9452, a decrease of 129 as compared with ISSO. The reports of the olfice appear to extend back for 2,' i years, and show that crime in Glasgowreached a maximum in 1567, and receded to a minimum in IS7I. Iu the former year the number rose to 10.599, and in the latter it fell to 7521. In the years subsequent to IS7I it fluctuated from 7559, in 1575, to 10,211 in 1579. The number of apprehensions in ISSI was 47,545, as compared with 46\979 in ISSO, being an increase of 509. The population within the city boundaries iu IS7I was 490,442, and at the census in April, ISSI, it was 511,532, an increase of only 21,0'J0 in the decade. The number of thefts during the year is stated to be 705U, while offences against the person numbered 2(59. The value of money and property stolen, embezzled, and fraudulently obtained during the vear, within the municipal bounds, is estimated at .Cl3/J9S 10s, being a decrease of £5S 2s, as compared with the previous year. Xiie amount recovered was £4:377 15s. The apprehensions for drunkenness were 41,555, and convictions 1>7.317. The fines recovered in the Police Court for the year ending .May 15, IS3I, amounted to £11,G54 13s Gd, being an increase of £152.> 14s 10d on the previous year. An examination of the return in which the offences for which people were summoned is given. There are several classes of oil'ences to which the citizens of Auckland are as yet strangers!, by-laws not having been made on such subjects. For instance, we find there were no fewer than 16 persons summoned for posting bills without permission ; 15 for keeping eating houses open after hours, 39 for falsely representing themselves to hotelkeepers as travellers, one for failing to report found property, 1G for selling coal unweighed, 7 for exposing unsound meat for sale, 5 for conveying slaughtered carcases uncovered, 1445 for having overcrowded dwelling-houses, one landlord for having property out of repair, and 12 landlords tor having property in a filthy state: Some of these subjects will require to be dealt with in Auckland sooner or later, and some of them cannot be looked after too soon. It seems that; fire raising is not so common in Scotland as in New Zeaj land, for in a city of upwards of half a million of people only one was charged with that offence iu the year under review, and he u-as acquitted. It seems that amongst other institutions for which licenses are issued are piggeries, cattle-sheds and byre 3, j and chimney sweeps. For the former, 121 licenses were issued. The number of cattle-sheds and byres licensed was 315, and chimney sweeps were licensed to the number of 231. The peddlers were no fewer than 930, so that it would appear that hawking was a profitable occupation. During the year, tho quantity of meat condemned as unfit for human food was no les3 than 159,0431b5., and a total quantity of 3S3,o!)Slbs. was submitted to the police for inspection. .Another table gives some interesting information in relation to hotels, public-houses, and groceries, for which occupation a license has to be obtained. Of licensed grocers, there were 271, as compared with 104 in 185 S. One of these establishment* is returned as paying an annual rent of between £800 and £900, while there are a number paying from £700 to .CUOO annual rent. There is a distinction made between a public bouse and an hotel, for we find that 1497 licenses were issued for the former, while only 26 were issued for the latter. Tlie great bulk of the public-houses were returned as paying a rental less than £150 per annum, while from £100 to £150 is the lowest rent paid for an hotel. For hotels some very high i rents are paid, a considerable number bciiiy upwards of £1000 per annum. One is returned as paying £4SOO, while another pays £4550. The total rental paid for hotels, public-houses, and grocers' shops in ISHI was £186,010, while in ISSS the sum wan only £60,205. It seems that a yearly raid is made upon fruit-sellers, tobacconists, greengrocers, etc., and in ISHI the number of such places open was found to be 2209, not .so many as in some previous years. The report contain much informations that is both curious ,' and instructive.