Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 42, 5 August 1892, Page 1

Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

It will be within the memory of oar readers that we recently quoted certain details and statistics of crime given in a book written by William Douglas Morrison, of H.M. Prison, Wandsworth. We now find that the writer is the Eev William Douglas Morrison, and that he is the chaplain of the prison in question. Mr Morrison publishes an article in the Nineteenth Century for June, in which he proves that crime has increased within these last years of which so much is boasted as advancing by long strides in enlightenment. The manner, he says, in which criminal returns ate affected by inconstant social factors requires that such statistics Bhould cover a decade at the least. The method employed by the writer is that of taking the number of cases dealt with both summarily and on indictment during the last three decades. Thus the following results are arrived at : — Yearly Average tried in the Decade. 1860-69 ... 466,687 1870-79 ... 628,027 1880-89 ... 701,060 We must, however, among the causes of the increase shown, consider the development of social legislation. Offences against the Education Acts, for instance, have furnished more than half a million cases. Against this we may set the abolition, in recent years, of several old penal laws, as well as the greater reluctance of tbe public and the police to prosecute trivial offenders. '• In any case . . . the very unwelcome fact remains that in the last three decades they (offences) have been steadily rising in maltitude." — But what has been the case with regard to the growth of population ? " Basing our calculations upon the estimated population at the middle of each decade, it comes cot that in 1860-69 one ca6e was tried annually for every forty-four of tbe inhabitants of England and Wales; in 187079 one case was tried for every thirty-Beven inhabitants ; in 1880-89 one case was tried for every thirty-eight inhabitants. According to these statistics the proportion of crime to the population baß remained almost the same for the last two decades, but if the last two decades are compared with the first, tbe growth of crime feas outstripped the growth of population."— As to the comparative seriousness cf crime, it may be gathered from tbe number and nature of the indictaLlf offences brought up for trial : — Yearly Average of Indictable Offences tried. 1860-69 ... 19,149 1870-79 ... 15,817 1880-89 ... 14,058 These figures Bhow a decrease, but this can bo explained : — Thus, in tbe first decade no less than 13,189 of the indictable cases for trial consisted of offences against property without violence. In the succeeding decades a very large proportion of these cases would have been dealt with summarily, even before tbe passing of tbe Summary Jurisdiction Act of 1879. Therefore, it is advisable to take one particular offence which has not been materially affected either by public opinion or by legislation— namely, murder. "In the decade 1860-69, tbe yearly average of murders reported to tbe police was 126 ; in 1870-79 the yearly average was 153 ; in 1880-89 the yearly average was 160. According to these statistics the most serious of all crimes has steadily increased within the last three dtcades, while in proportion to the growth of population it was nearly as common in the last decade as in the first. It wonld therefore appear, if we Jake the increase of murder as a criterion, that the decrease in the number of indictable offences since 1860-69 is to a very notable extent to be attributed to a change of crimiral procedure, rather than to an actual decrease of serious crime." — \t must be remembered, besides, that in 1879 the Summary Jurisdio 'ion Act was passed, the immediate result being that about 3000 c& f ee, formerly classed as indictable, were transferred to courts of Summi *ry Jurisdiction. " Had this great alteration in judicial procedure no t taken place, the last decade, instead of showing a decrease of sei ions offences, would, on the contrary, have exhibited a considerable increase. But, even

THB GROWTH OF CBIHB.

taking the figures as they stand, it will be found that, in spite of tbe operation of the Summary Jurisdiction Act, almost every form of serious crime has increased in tbe last decade as compared with tbe preceding one."— The following table shows this :—: — Annual Average of Indictable Offences against the Person, 1870-79 ... 2315 1880-89 ... 2562 Annual Average of Off meet against Property with Violence, 1870-79 ... 1483 1880-89 ... 1850 Annual Average of Offences against Property mthovt Violence* 1870-79 ... 10,701 1880-79 ... 8,049 Annual Average of Malicious Offeneet against Property. 1870-79 ... 199 1880-89 ... 272 Annual Average of Forgery and Offences against the Currency. 1870-79 ... 421 1880-89 ... 499 Annual Average of other Offences not included in the above classes. 1870-79 ... 698 1880-89 ... 824 With the eingle exception then of offences against property without violence, there has been a decided increase in indictable offences of all kinds— "An increase which has, in almost every instance, more than kept pace with the growth of population." The exception most be set down to the operation of the Summary Jurisdiction Actcrimes of this character coming most extensively within its scope. The Criminal Law amendment Act of 1885, on the other hand, has added to the indictable offencas against the person. "In short, the Criminal Law Amendment Act, owing chiefly to the rise of new crimes, has slightly increased the total number of indictable offences, whilst the Summary Jurisdiction Act has enormously diminished them ; aDd, after due weight has been given to tbe effects of both these Acts of Parliament, the conclusion cannot be avoided that serious crime has unmistakably increased within the last decade.' The argument, therefore, that intellectual improvement lessens crime is unsound. •' Our inquiry into the movement of crime in England and Wales, as tested by the statistics of cases tried both summarily and on indictment," says the writer, " is hostile to the idea that tbii country bas recently entered npon a career of sudden and unexampled Cioral renovation." The writer goes on to adduce further consideration in support of this decision. " Within the last three decades," be save, " there has been an enormous increase in philanthropic enterprise, in the Bhape of homes for the young and assistance for the destitute and fallen. But, notwithstanding the good achieved by this vast expenditure of benevolent effort, there has been a continuous increase in the number of cases committed to prison and to reformatory and industrial schools. The following table represents the growth of the prison population :—: — Yearly Average Committed to Prison in the Decade. 1860-69 ... 127,690 1870-79 ... 154 145 1880-89 ... 170,827 " These figures not only disclose an absolute increase in the number of committals to prison on criminal charges (civil and military cases being excluded), but if the last decade is compared with the first, they also show a decided increase of commitments in proportion to the growth of the population ; and the full extent of this increase is not realised by looking at the prison population alone." Juvenile delinquents, formerly imprisoned, but now to be fonnd chiefly in reformatory and industrial schools must also be considered. " When this is done, it will be seen that, whatever the prisons have lost, these establishments have more than gained :— Annual Average of Juveniles in Beformatory and Industrial Schools: 1860-69 ... 6,834 1870-79 ... 17 394 1880-89 ... 25,605 Account ought also to be taken of the substitution within recent years ot fines and bail for imprisonment. " But, even if this growing

practice is left entirely out of consideration the fact still remains that crime, as judged by the growth of the prison and the reformatory and industrial school population, has become more prevalent in tht last two decades." The writer again tells us that the growth by leaps and bounds of the police force, at an enormous cost to the country also proves the truth of his conclusions. "In short, police statistics are a striking confirmation of prison statistics, and the statistics of trials ; and all of them point with singular unanimity to the conclusion that crime, during the last thirty years, for which we possess official returns, has not decreased in gravity, and has been ■teadily developing in magnitude." The writer accounts for this Mrions state of things by the increased concentration of the people in cities.

OHTJBOH MUSIC.

Now that the reform of Church marie, and the introduction of a different style of singing into choirs is a topic of the times, some details as to the music performed during Holy Week in the Church of Saint-Gervais at Paris, as given by a writer in the Revue Des Bex Mondes for May 1, may be of interest to our readers. The writer telli as that the works be heard belonged, for the most part, to the great Italian school of the 16th century, of which Palestrina is generally known as the chief representative. Among (his school, he says, we do not find what we know to-day as melody. Bat of this the definition he gives strikes us aa too good in the original for translation. It runs as follows :— C'est-a-dire une phrase definie rytamia et chaotante, une suite et comme line ligne de sons, divisible en periodes xegulieres et presqne ajme'triquea, parfaitement separable des autres parties gui l'acoompagnent, quelque chose, par exemplt, comme le Vai ehe sapete de Mozart.— There is nothing of this, tha writer says in the Church music of the 16th ceatury. Id a Mass of Paleatrina, a response of Vittoria, the " Crucifixus " of Lotti— three names which include nearly two centuries— all the parts at once sing and accompany, all are equal in importance and expression. There is hardl ever a prominence of phrase or voice, but a general effect of several voices co-operating in harmonious chords. The rhythm, any more than the melody, is not very marked, because it is always uniform ; the movement of a piece, quick or slow, once fixed, there is seldom •ny change in.the time. Even Bach, we are told, appears a melodist in comparison with his predecessors.— Palestrina, explains th» writer* found church mnsic confused and profaned. Popes and Councils were troubled because of it, but he came down from the Sabine hills and in 1565 the Mass of Pope Marcellus, as it is called, saved religious srt. Toe writer goea oa to explain that the music in question wm particularly suited to the spirit of the time, when a reaction against the Benaissance had set in. Music, he says, accommodated itself more easily than the other arts to the penitential frame of mind.— But what, asks the writer, gives this music a character so profoundly religious ! Its nature first, he answers, and then the conditions in which it is performed. Exclusively vocal, no instrument, not even the organ, accompanies it. Aod, then, the accoustic properties of the naves are only suitable to song. At Saint-Gervais, he says, the siogers were invisible, as they ought to be in rendering this music, and from a high loft their songs came slowly down. The chords, uninterruptedly linked together, floated in the atmosphere like light veils, or, rather, seemed the atmosphere itself, for harmony only was breathed ; and the great sorrowful words continually returned. "Crucifixus" repeated with poignant anguish a motet of Antonio Lotti. Truly, he adds, the funeral march of the " Heroic Symphony " and that of the " Twilight of the Gods " do not spread abroad more sadness or a sadness more noble, more sacred , or more divine than the three responses of Vittoria performed on Holy .Thursday,— this Vittoria, who was not knowu, revealed him - ■elf as a master, equal to Palestrina in parity of harmony, surpassing him, perhaps, by the intensity of feeling by the more pathetic interpretation of the words. Some people, he tells us, found the beauty of this music of mourning and distress monotonous, Alas I what is more monotonous, he asks, than our grief and our groaning 1 All these old masters, they saij, are too much alike. They all sing the same. Agreed ; but do we not all weep and pray the same ? Religious art, besides, is never co grand as when it is impersonal— that is to Bay, universal, aa in the cithedrals, or in the songs we have just heard. The writer's conclusion is this:— As there is only one word which answers perfectly to a thought, there is, perhaps, also only one form, and that form, in music, for Christian thought is, I believe, that of the Allegris and the Palestrinas

HOW COME THEY HERE?

M. Kowaxski, the eminent pianist who visited New Zealand last year, is contributing to the Courrier Australian, a new French paper published in Sydney, a series of articles on bis tour in this Colony. M. Kowalski reserves all rights. We must not, therefore, quote from what be says io his particular tongue. But when he takes to the use of the Queen's English it is a different thing. We borrow the following passage without scruple. It relates to Me W. H. Poole, the manager of the company, and for whose bass voice and prodigious

memory M . Kowalski vouches. The writer says that everywhere they went in Auckland Mr Poole took part in such a dialogue as that he reports :— " ' How are you, old Dad ? ' ' Very well, and you, my boy 1 ' 'Do you remember me. ... Robinson ? Cambridge, 8 .A., 1865.' . . . . • What Robinson ?' says Mr W. H. Poole. 'J. F. . . , P. P. . . . orM. B. W. . . .' ' Not one of those, bntT.G.O. Robinson, junior, now M. D. P. E. ' Oh, perfectly well,' ejaculates Mr Poole. 'You. . . . wait. ; . . abit. . . . of course, T. G, C. . . . the football champion. . . . have yon recovered of that wound to your foot which occurred in the contest with the Lancashire team. . . . When Miss D. . . . lamenting on your sad accident, amidst her tears was Baying : •' Oh, poor fellow I .... what a misfortune. . . . one of my best waltzing partners—." ' " But, to explain all this, we find that, after all, we must infringe M. Kowalski's rights. We, however, give the translation for what it is worth. It shall be as inexact as possible. The reason for all this, explaioß M. Kowalski, is that Mr W. H. Poole sang in the University chapel at Cambridge for 33 years, and that all the students of that period are familiar with his face. " How are you, old Dad ? Je tenais a relater cette parlieulttritS, Men anglaise , q\us se reprodnir* dnrant toute notre tournie en Nouvelle-Zelande.^ But the moral is interrogative, Do all students become graduates ? Do not all graduates find openings in the learned professions at Home ? Or how comes it that so many are adrift on the colonial tide ? This we should like to see answered in the interests of the higher education. But then, of course, we have heard of the Senior Wrangler who swore at his bullocks in Greak.