H.—l4

16

Enclosure No. 9. Inspector Broham to the Commissioner, Armed Constabulary Force. Sir, — Constabulary Office, Auckland, sth June, 1873. In compliance with Circular No. 47, of sth June, 1871, I have the honor to report upon the Constabulary of this district for the past year. I attach a statistical return of the crime of the district for the year 1872, and an estimate of the cost of police for the ensuing year. The record of crime shows but a slight variation from the return of 1871. During that year 2,805 persons had been taken into custody, while for last year 2,706 had been arrested. In the classification of offences, the same closeness in the numbers has occurred. During 1871, 1,810 persons had been charged with drunkenness; during last year the number was 1,779. In 1871, 237 persons had been apprehended for offences under the Vagrant Act; during last year 253 persons had been so charged. In 1871,197 persons had been arrested for petty larceny ; during last year 182 had been taken in charge ; and so on, through the entire list, the numbers approach each other very nearly, a result mainly owing to the large number of persons who were reconvicted during both years, and which occurs through the short sentences meted out to those charged with habitual drunkenness and vagrancy. Week after week, and month after month, the same offenders are brought before the Courts, and receive the same lenient sentences they did before, which in no way deters them from falling into their old courses. The likelihood of reformation in these persons is most remote ; and to free society from their presence, and from their contaminating influence, the infliction of the severest penalty the law allows would be no more than their offences deserve. At the present time labour is plentiful throughout the Province; all who wish to earn an honest livelihood can easily do so; and it betokens a truly worthless disposition in the strong and able-bodied to go begging in the public streets, and to spend what they receive in charity in the nearest publichouse. The encouragement which people of this class receives from the benevolent leads others to follow in the same line, while the punishment they get when brought before the Courts is in no way deterrent, and thus the district has a number of drunkards and vagrants out of all proportion to its population. From crime of a grave character, tho district, I am glad to say, enjoys an immunity equal to any other part of the Colony. Organized gangs of highwaymen or burglars are unknown ; the crimes that are committed are usually the work of individuals acting singly, and as they are generally well known to the detectives, rarely escape detection. But while success usually attends the prosecution of ordinary crime, there is one offence, namely, that of " specimen stealing," which is but too common at the Thames, and requires that the Act passed last Session for the registration of crushing machines should be brought into operation without further delay, to enable the police to grapple successfully with it. As directly bearing on the decrease and increase of crime, it may perhaps not be out of place to note here, what is being done in Auckland with regard to the children who usually swell the criminal lists when they grow up. The Industrial School which was established here some two years ago has been attended with the utmost success, and has afforded the means of removing from the evil influence of prostitute mothers and drunken worthless fathers some seventy children, who are inmates thereof at present, and are thus saved from being brought up in the evil courses of their parents. Several of the children have been sent into the country to service lately, and have given great satisfaction to those who have engaged them. The want of a Reformatory for juvenile criminals is equally pressing with our former want of an Industrial School. Toung boys are convicted in the Courts from time to time, and are now sent to Mount Eden Gaol, where they are forced to herd with old and hardened criminals, in the absence of any proper place to keep them. Owing to the absence of a Reformatory, Justices continued to discharge juvenile thieves until the increase of juvenile crime compelled them to resort to the present course, although the certain result of that course is to confirm the youngsters in a criminal career for life. The Provincial Council voted the sum of £250 at its last session for the formation of a Reformatory, but no steps have yet been taken in the matter. Large herds of children of idle and dissolute parents are being brought up here in the back lanes and alleys of the city, who never go to school or receive any instruction either religious or otherwise, and who never hear or see anything except what is foul, immoral, and debasing. In such situations thieves and prostitutes are bred; and that we are likely to have a large addition to their numbers in the future, none can doubt who pays a visit to the by-lanes of the town. I am glad to say that the want of a prison van, which I noticed in my last report, has been remedied, the Provincial Government having employed a covered conveyance at a moderate cost to take prisoners from tho Lock-up in the city to the Gaol at Mount Eden. I am again compelled to bring under your notice the smallness of the force under my charge for the requirements of the district. The population of the Province is, as you are aware, 62,000; the entire police force, officers and men, is 44; thus the ratio of police to population is as one to every fourteen hundred. Throughout the Colonies the police are as one to every seven or eight hundred of population, as it is found that owing to the unsettled habits of the people, more police are required than in England, where one constable to every thousand of population is the rule. There are no special circumstances which would render it allowable to employ a smaller body of police here than elsewhere. The classes which require police supervision are as numerous in proportion to population ; and the result of the present practice of employing one constable where two are needed is, that much of the petty crime of the district goes unpunished and is neglected, and the by-laws for the regulation of towns are not uniformly enforced with the strictness and attention thej' should be. The employment of special constables in country districts is a matter I would again bring under your notice ; as I have frequently stated, these men are of no real worth in conserving the public peace, and only tend to bring the law into contempt with the people. Sometimes the special constable is a barman in a public-house, or a day-labourer seeking employment from different persons, and it is need-