CRIME. 181 



being the more easily fired. It is with the greatest difficulty 

 that the perpetrators can be discovered or apprehended. There 

 were, in the period recorded, an annual average of 22 cases of 

 cutting and wounding, and how many more were and are never 

 brought before the magistrate? For the negro very much 

 resembles the schoolboy, who prefers silently to suffer rather than 

 call for the interference of the master. The weapon most com- 

 monly used in such cases is the cutlass — an agricultural tool which 

 the peasant generally carries about with him, and, in case of any 

 quarrel, is too often turned iuto a deadly weapon. The negro is 

 irritable and obstinate, and whenever his passions have been 

 roused by contention or stubborn opposition, he becomes unman- 

 | ageable, and strikes his opponent with whatever weapon he can 

 l grasp. We have also 1,117 cases of assault and battery; 1,039 

 I cases of fighting, or an average of 431 cases a year. We record 

 I 2,136 cases of larceny ; 251 for receiving stolen goods, and 66 

 I cases for obtaining money under false pretences ; altogether 

 2,453 cases, or a yearly average of 490, showing to what an 

 extent tne practice of stealing is carried. But in how many 

 cases is information not lodged on the offended party recovering 

 | the stolen goods? or how many more are disposed of by the injured 

 I party's summary procedure of inflicting corporal punishment on 

 the thief ? " Taking is not stealing/ - ' is a common saying 

 among all classes of servants ; that is to say, carrying off that 

 which may be left within reach, is not larceny in the opinion of 

 'those people. 



There appear on the list 752 cases of drunkenness, and 598 

 of riotous and disorderly conduct, or a yearly average of 275. 

 Obscene and violent language, 483 cases. The individuals com- 

 jmitted for riotous and disorderly conduct are generally members 

 of those societies which are a regular pest. If we deduct from 

 jthe number of offences committed by Asiatics those which may 

 |be regarded as breaches of the immigration regulations, we shall 

 jthen have about 3,300 cases of ordinary offences. 



The interval between the present year and the year 1871, 

 when the census of the colony was taken, is too great to allow 

 me to establish by comparison the proportionate number of 

 •ffenders belonging to each country which sends us emigrants. 

 1, nevertheless, can say this, and I say it with regret, Trinidad 

 •ccupies a very unenviable position as compared with the year 



