Finger-Print Evidence

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 46, 16 November 1905, Page 20

Finger-Print Evidence

A couple of years ago the Justice Department of New Zealand adopted the idea oi taking finger-prints of persons convicted of serious offences, and in view of the apparent success which has attended the adoption of this method of identification the following particulars from an English periodical regarding- the antiquity of the system will be of interest :— Anybody might think, said a leading criminal lawyer to the writer, from the fuss that is being made in the papers o\er finger-print evidence, that it was something very new as well ns wondeiful ) bnl as a matter of fact it is, if not quite as old as the hills, at any rate hoary with the snows of many centuries. Why, when our own gieat nobles couldn't even write their own names, finger-punts were 1 of such common use in China as not to excite the iaintest interest. The Chinaman who used gunpowder and had his printingpress when we were shooting airows with flint heads, recognised the value of a fingei-print as an evidence of identity many a long century ago, and every Government passport bore the impress ot the thumb of the man to^ whom it was issned. What an excellent i idea, by the 'way, for our railway companies to adopt for Iheir season-tickets ! But perhaps I ought not to put the idea inro their heads The Hindus, too, ages ago found an admirable use for finger-prints in their law transactions. Every document, for instance, relating to a transfer of lands bore the thumb prints of the parties to the deeds and its witnesses, an immeasurably safer method than our practice of autogiaph signatures. Writang can be easily imitated, but you cannot forge a thumb-mark, however clever you may be. And in Japan every document of State has for centuries borne the red imprint of the thumb of the Mikado himself In fact, in this matter, which is commonly looked on as such a striking siirn of Western scientific progiess, we aie actually centuries behind the people of the East ; and while patting ourselves on the back as inventois of a wondeiful system we are at best only tardy imitators of people we affect to look down upon Rather strong, eh 7 Yes, but it's quite true. Of course, sooner or later the practice was sure to drift to, Europe, but it v\as not until About Eighty Years Ago that anything was heaid of finger-prints west of the Caucasus, and then it was a German, Dr Puikenje, who was struck by the possibilities of the thing. Fortynine years elapsed beioie an Englishman awoke to the value of fingei -punts— Sir William Ilerschel, who had made his acquaintance with them as an Indian Civil servant Sir William insisted that the ancient practice ot affixing thumb-ma.! ks instead of signatmes to legal documents should be iew\ed, and, piesto ' forgenes, which had been as common as blackben les m autumn, came to an end Since those da) s the pi ac t ice has been extended, and now e\eiy pension icceipt m India bears the mipiess ol the pensioners thumb — a practice which might well be intioduced into England. Sir William was so impressed by the subject that he wrote a book about it and made his iheoiies and experiences public propei ty , and a do/en \eais or so ago. Dr Francis Gallon, a well known Oxfoid professor, was struck by the idea that it would be an excellent thing tor the ident ifi< ation ot cuminals \li. Edward lleniy. Commissioner of Mctiopohtan Police, at that time a Police Inspector-General m India, took up the mattei enthusiastically, and to these two men we very largely owe the present system of lingei-pnnL detection which has pioved such a big success It was soon found that It was Par Superior to I\l Rertillon's system ot taking different measurements of ciiminals — an excellent method, but more curubious and less reliable, and now it is so firmly established that it will be a long time betoie it will be supeiseded as a lead) and almost mlallible method of identification How infallible it is may be gathered tiom the la< 1 that, as Pioiessoi Gallon dedaies, 'the chalices against two peisons' lingei-pi mts being alike aie one in t> 1 ,ooa,000,tiOi"l ' Tins means that if the population ot the eailh weie foiiy times as gieat as it is 10-da\, ) oil might look in \am for two people whose (mger-nini ks were identical \t Scotland Yaid something like piintsha.ve been flndiiged and indexed, and out of them all no IrtO h,i\e been ioiiud to ha\e moie than thice points of similantv, while they diller m many ways Last year .ludll identifications "eie made at Scotland Yard; and this )cai it is said the number will he doubled.