WHAT, NO BURGLARS.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 30, Issue 23, 22 March 1918, Page 2

WHAT, NO BURGLARS.

It's, an ill wind that brings good to no one. One unforeseen result of the long-drawn-out conflict has been ■a large drop in the population of our prisons. Recently Dartmoor, one of the most famous of our convict prisons, was converted to another use ; and most gaols in all parts of Great Britain are experiencing an unusual dearth of guests. This is not due to any wholesome reformation on the part of our burglars, pickpockets, and other criminals. One great cause is the fact that most able-bodied professional criminals are in the Army, where those opportunities for the exercise of their profession are restricted. Police supervision has been.' so much simplified by National Registration and the Conscription Acts that even those criminals at large know how difficult a “get-away” would be. Also the Defence of the Realm Act has put a spoke in the wheel of those cosmopolitan thieves who in normal time hud a happy hunting ground in England. The Army has ofiered a career to many men who have drifted info a life of crime, and scores of them have “made good.” One burglar won the V. 0., and another man was awarded the Russian Cross of St. George.