STATISTICS OF THE COST OF CRIME IN ENGLAND AND WALES.

[PROW • CORRESPONDENT.] IV. kr has been stated that, in order to estimate the comparative expenditure for the convict services in England and Wales during the last ten years, it is needful to calculate the outgoings for the whole empire in the same period. This appears to be the only method available to the unofficial inquirer, by which to arrive at anything approximating the results de- sired. From the manner in which the Civil Service Estimates are tabu- lated, it is impossible to eliminate the prison expenses for Ireland and the convict charges for Scotland from the general amount voted with any certainty. This difficulty, though when stated formally appears to be a serious one, when considered in its relation to the whole subject little affects the argument of these letters on the cost of crime. For even if we are quite unable to separate the outlay of public money in Ireland and Scotland from the expenditure in England, or if we are precluded from estimating, directly or indirectly, the amount required to be subtracted from the total cost, we are still in a position to assert that the nation at large suffers to a certain extent, and pays a certain yearly sum in addition to former expenses, for the punishment of its criminal class within the prison walls. This, in fact, is all we desire to learn. If the Treasury of the kingdom contributes a definite sum from the national revenue to liquidate these criminal charges, it little matters whether or not any given portion of the empire absorbs a greater or less proportion of the amount. At least, such is the view which he who is concerned only with the pecuniary aspect of crime would take. Of course, if the question be whether or not the system of convict management in England is more or less costly than the system adopted in Ireland, the details which are now neglected would become indispensible. And, although we are at liberty to disregard them for the present, the comparative expenditure in England and Ireland is not so far beyond reach as some may imagine ; and the consideration of it will enter into the question at a future period. Meanwhile, however, the discussion must be confined to the aggregate expenditure of Great Britain and Ireland; and the following table, compiled from the Civil Service Estimates, will be of service in showing briefly the details of such outlay :-

General Estimates for Prison and Convict Services at Home and in the Colonies for the Years 1849 to 1858.

General Superin. tendence. E;71,:,:_ .eutZrt Home.

Mainte- nance of Prisoners in County Gaols'

Expenses 01 Transpor- tation. Convict Establish- meats in the Colonies.

Total.

£ £ £ £ • £ £

1849

14,331 258,993 127,181 182,113 199,905 702,523 1849 1850 14,550 237,224 135,848 119,230 200,147 706,999 1850 1851 15,472 251,269 117,190 98,860 183,030 665,821 1851 1852 16,196 261,522 159,123 101,041 253,587 791.469

1853 16,839 407,667 160,465 69,518 244,054 898,543 1853 1854 17,306 371,933 164,165 d2,765 342,702 988,871 1854 1855 18,770 375,479 166,174 59,405 297,621 917,449 1855 1856 16,783 415,906 161,595 25,485 286,605 906,374 1856 1857 17,504 426,669 183,523 43,825 259,405 930,916 1857 1858. 17,703 430,758 190,023 44,715 225,968 909,165 1858

This table fully justifies the assertion made in a former letter, that the Civil Service Estimates for the convict establishments in the year 18.58 exceed by 200,0001. the sums voted ten years previously ; for The total amount for the convict charges in 1849 was ..£702,523 And the total amount for thebonviet charges in 1858 was.. 909,165 Neither is this the greatest discrepancy observable, for the estimates for 1858 are not less than 243,340/. in excess of the expenditure in 1861.

It is true that the charge for 1868' proves a diminution in the expenses over the-preceding year's vote; but it is also true, that it slightly ea ceeds the amount spent in 1856, and falls but little short of the expendi- ture of 1855. There is little doubt that the estimates for 1864 and 1857,.

from whatever cause created, are very largely in excess of the average votes for the convict services; and hence, that the diminution in the

outlay of 1858 over the preceding year is not a positive decrease of ex-

penditure, but rather a return from a sum far beyond the average to one which more nearly approximates that standard. We are unable, therefore to congratulate ourselves upon the prospects held out to us for futu;o, years, by our experience of the past ; since the most we can safely affirm of our national outgoings in this particular department for

the punishment of crime is this-that, whilst the total annual expendi- ture has oscillated from greater to less, and from less to greater in dif- ferent years, the sum voted in 1849 falls short of the estimates calculated for 1858 by considerably more than 200,000/.

Such are the general results which are observable from the returns of the Civil Service Estimates for-the last ten years. In this review no ac- count has been taken of details. Nor is it needful. It is not at all necessary to particularize the items of expenditure. It is not at all re- quisite to determine the separate causes of outlay. If it is proved that for a lengthened period of years the estimates gradually, though not in- variably, increase, until 200,0001. is the augmentation in a space of ten years but a single opinion can be formed upon the subject. There may be-doubtless there are-reasons which will approve themselves to all persons, why in certain years the estimates rise above the average, and again fall almost to the accustomed rate of increase. Differences in the treatment, changes in the condition of our convict population, will cause a certain amount of variation. At one time we shall transport more con- victs to our colonies and keep fewer at home ; at another we shall re- tain a greater number in our home depOts, and deport a smaller number abroad. Now the hulk system will prevail-even partially, in its dying hours ; and again the model prison arrangements, with all its costly ad- juncts, needful and needless, will be adopted. All these changes in the systems of convict discipline, whilst it is most fully allowed all tend in one direction-towards the well being of all classes of society, including those who are regarded as its outcasts-yet cannot be enjoyed without being paid for. Hence many items of expenditure which we cannot forego, but for which also we should rejoice to be responsible. And hence, also, many details for which the estimates for certain years-so

far as ordinary charges are concerned-are not at all responsible.- Thus, gratuities to prisoners-no unimportant item-may be charged partially

or in full one year, and omitted the next. The expenses for building new prisons, or for altering or repairing old ones, may fall largely upon one estimate, less heavily on the one which succeeds it, and not at all on that which went before. The charges for superior supervision may gradually and most advantageously increase ; and the expenses of sub- ordinate supervision may, with less advantage, and far more ruinoualy, exceed. These_ are but a few of the causes of expenditure which may

• For prisoners convicted by juries.

legitimately make the estimates for any given year vacillate on either side of the general average of increase upon the annual cost of the prison services-and since such disturbing accidents are avowedly liable to af- fect the equilibrium they cannot be ignored, and should have given to them their full weight. Yet, after all the allowance which may rea- sonably be made for these oscillations, this fact stands prominently for- ward upon the pages of the Civil Service Estimates, that the charges for the prison services during the last ten years have gradually and gra- dually increased, until they exceed in 1868 the expenditure for 1849 by 200,0001.

The details of the above table must now be considered in order.

1. The estimates for general superintendence, contemporaneously with greater efficiency, gradually rise from 14,331/. per annum in 1849 to 17,7031. in 1868.

2. The government prisons and convict establishments at home increase during the same period from 258,9931. to 430,756/. This is the sum total of expenditure for Great Britain and Ireland ; and in this case it is possible to do what in other instances is almost beyond possi- bility to affect-and that is, to separate the charge for the English con- vict department from the similar returns for Scotland and Ireland. In the following statement, this division has been attempted. It is not ne- cessary that all the actual outlay for the English prisons be included in this table-since the estimates, from their complication, do not permit an exhaustive subdivision of the expenditure. Yet, to the extent allowed by the official tables, the totals for each year include all the items for the several English prisons of every estimated charge, with the excep- tion of "general superintendence." These items include, amongst other sources of outlay, the charges for the salaries wages, and allowances of the convict officials ; the victualling, clothing, and bedding of the prisoners ; the furniture, fuel, and light for the depots; the building charges and repairs ; together with special services and contingencies. These expenses were incurred, or estimated, for the prisons of Millbank, Parkhurst, Portland, Pentonville, Portsmouth, Dartm000r, Brixton, Fulham, Chatham, and the Hulks, which were in use as convict depOts at different times of the period reaching from 1849 to 1858.

Year. Estimated Cost. Year. Estimated Cost.

1849

£177,251

1854 £227,248 1850 162,564 1855 254,974 1851 186,586 1856 277,642 1852 203,221 1857 284,691 1853 163,360 1868 286,305 These figures-which, it must be remembered, only disclose a portion of our liabilities for the home department of the convict services-reveal some very noteworthy facts when taken alone ; but, when viewed in con- nexion with other statements which the same sources produce, the re- milts become sufficiently alarming to require much attention. In the first place, they prove an increase, gradual with hardly an important check, and large to the extent upon the whole period of 100,0001. and upwards, in the estimated coat of the English prisons in ten years. Of course, coincident with this augmentation of expenditure at home, the numbers of our colonial convicts has declined ; and whereas the prison population in 1849 was 5668, the numbers in 1858 were 8682. This fact seems to account, in part, for the heavy expenditure in the latter year- though only partially, and in appearance. For, if the decade be divided into two periods of five years each, it will be perceived (1) that al- though there were 1696 more convicts at home in 1849 than in 1853, there was a decreased expenditure in the latter year to the extent of 13,000!.; • and (2) that although the number of convicts in 1864 lacked only 223of the number in 1858, yet that the estimated charges, in the respective years, increased from 227,000/. to 286,0001.-to the extent of 60,0001. It is certainly true that the numbers in our Government prisons have decreased from 8300 in 1854, to 7800 in 1867; but this cireumstance scarcely can be considered satisfactory ma pecuniary point of view, since during the same period, and coincident with a diminution of the population of our gaols, the expenditure has increased by the gra- dual, but steady, stages of 227,000/., 254,000/., 277,000/., and 284,000/. In 1858, according to former experience ten years ago, our Government prisons are choked with inmates to the extent of 3000 additional con- victs, and our expenditure has risen proportionately, and to the extent of more than 100,000/.

3. The expenses for the maintenance of prisoners convicted by juries in the county gaols has increased, with some slight vacillations in dif- ferent years, from 127,181/. in 1849 to 190,023/. in 1858.

4. The charges for the cost of transportation have necessarily declined. The highest sum they reached was 119,2301., and this amount was paid in the year 1850. In 1854 the estimates for the same object were 92,0001. • and from this date they steadily declined, until in 1867 they reached '43,0001. In 1858 there was a slight increase, and the sum voted was 44,7151.

5. And lastly, the expenses of the convict establishment in the colonies prove, that although great reductions have taken place in these estimates for certain years in the interval between 1849 and 1868, yet that the cost for the colonial department in the latter year exceeds by 26,000/. the charges ten years earlier. These figures must be taken in connexion with those which declared the expenditure of the convict es- tablishment at home, before any very definite judgment can be formed of the value of either. It might be argued-and with justice-that when the home department of the convict services exceeds the average of outlay, the establishments abroad should at the least retrench their expenditure ; and that when the number of convicts at the antipodes was increased, there would be a corresponding diminution in the prison popu- lation at home. Thus it might be supposed that these numbers and figures would equalize themselves, and that the surplus in one hemi- sphere would counterbalance the diminution in the other. Such a sup- position, however justly conceived, as far as the expenditure of the ser- vices affects the question, is altogether negatived by the facts of the case. For although, when the estimates for the two services are combined, it appears that the general increase in ten years amounts to nearly 100,0001., yet it does not appear that the expenditure of either department-at home or abroad-varies according to the accident of numbers. This was suffi- ciently shown in the case of the English convict depOts : the anomalieti of prison expenditure in the colonies are not less glaring or more ca- pable of explanation. For example :-From 1849 to 1868 the numbers of the convict population in four or five of the penal settlements, of Ber- muda, Gibraltar, New South Wales, Van Dieman's Land, and West

Australia, oscillated from 9000 to 26,000, and down to 4700. The highest number was reached in 1853, where there are stated to have been 20,000 convicts in Van Dieman's Land alone. For this year, the estimates amount to 244,0001.; whilst the charges for 1858, when the number of convicts reached only 4700, were 225,900/. This proves that, with the reduction of population to the extent of 21,300 persons, the estimates show a decrease of only 18,0001 or something short of 17s. each convict per annum ; in other words 18,000/. is the only re- duction upon 244,0001. when the number of prisoners has been di- minished by nearly five-sixths. These anomalies appear to culminate in this instance. A comparison, however, of the estimates of the last five years give fresh examples. In 1864 the number of convicts abroad was 28,800, and the estimated charges for the same year were 342,000/. In 1858 the respective figures are 4700, and 225,900/. Hence a re- duction of four-fifths in the convict population produces no greater than a diminution of about one-third in the convict expenditure. Lastly, a comparison of the numbers and cost for the years 1866, 1866, produce more striking results : since, upon a population diminished almost one- half, the decrease in the expense was at most but 1-27th part of the estimated charges. The numbers in this instance were 14,800 con- victs in 1855, and 7800 in 1856; whilst the expenditure in one case was 247,6001. and in the other 286,600/.

From these statements, drawn as they are from official sources, the following is a brief recapitulation. It appears, then, that during the in- terval of ten years from the date 1849, the expenditure upon the whole of the details voted by Parliament for the Civil Service Estimates has in- creased more than 200,000/. This total increase has been incurred through the augmentation of the following sources of outlay :— 1. The estimates for the general superintendence have increased 43400 2. The estimates for the government prisons at home have increased 171,000 3. The estimates for the maintenance of prisoners con- victed by juries in the county gaols have increased 62,000 4. The estimates for the convict establishment in the colonies have increased 25,000 Whilst the only item which shows a decreased expenditure—and this was well nigh unavoidable—is the last, and 5. The estimates for the expenses of transportation have decreased 57,000 And these augmentations do not include the increased expenditure mentioned in the previous letter.

Only a single additional remark seems to be needful on the above figures. The estimates for the Government prisons of Great Britain and Ireland have increased 171,0001. in ten years. Of this sum it has been shown that, at the least, 100,000/. have been incurred on ac- count of the English branch of the service alone. The remaining 71,0001. must be the utmost amount by which the Scotch and Irish establish- ments have assisted to create this alarming increase. It also appears that, in the second half of the same decade, the total increase of the estimated convict services of the three kingdoms amounted to 58,0001. Now the commencement of this period synchronises with the establishment of the improved system of convict discipline in Ireland ; and a reference to the last annual report of the Directors of convict prisons in Ireland will prove that, of this augmentation to the Civil Service Estimates to the ex- tent of 68,0001., not one fraction has been caused by the system adopted in the sister country. On the contrary, in addition to several thousands previously saved, and in expectation of still further reduction in the cost of the convict services, the Directors are enabled to report a diminution in the estimates to the extent of 12,0001. Hence, whilst the Irish sys- tem has been the means of saving the country an outlay of 12,000/. a year, the system continued in England has consumed an additional amount of 58,0001. INQUIRER.

[To Sc continued.]