The annual Parliamentary Blue-book on the Metropolitan Police for the
year 1899 is full of instructive facts and figures. The Metropolitan area covers 688 square miles, with a mean rateable value, for police purposes, of £42,557,150, and the total number of police available is 13,836, their pay amounting to £1,287,393. Under the head of principal offences we find a diminution of nearly 1,100 cases as against 1898. The number of burglaries and housebreakings has slightly diminished, while the value of property stolen is the lowest since 1890, showing a decrease of £37,282 as compared with 1898. On the other hand, in four out of the 21 murders committed in 1899 no one has been made amenable. In regard to the licensing of public carriages the most note- worthy statistics are those relating to the increase in the rejection of obsolete or worn-out vehicles, and the withdrawal of electrically propelled hackney carriages. Finally, out of 39,551 articles found in public carriages and deposited in the Lost Property Office, 19,804 were restored to their owners. The variety of these articles is, as usual, amazing, the fauna of the Lost Property Office, comprising dogs, oats, and several live birds, including an owl.
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