Statistics of Van Diemens Land. 129 



117 males and 11 females in confinement in the month of 

 September, of which 48 per cent, were for misdemeanors, 

 and 52 per cent, for felonies. The instances of punishment 

 within the walls of the Prisons during the year Avere 30. 

 During the same period 334 cases of sickness occurred in 

 the Gaols, 28 being the greatest number of sick at one time ; 

 but there were no deaths. 



Tables 63 to 07 form the Police and Magisterial Statis- 

 tics of the Territory for 1848. The aggregate total of 

 persons, free and bond, taken before magistrates during the 

 year, comprise the almost incredible number of 21,057,* or 

 30 per cent, of the entire population ! Two -thirds of these, 

 or 20 per cent., were bond, and one-third, or 10 per cent., 

 w^ere free. Drunkenness is, as usual, the most conspicuous 

 offence, numbering 5255 cases, or 25 per cent, of the whole 

 amount. These again are subdivisible in the proportion of 

 44 per cent, bond, and 56 per cent, free — to their shame be 

 it recorded ! 



Analysis of the several offences, as grouped in the Tables 

 63 and 67, set down in a descending scale from the one of 

 most frequent occurrence, affords the following results : — 



Per cent. 



Drunkenness 25 



Misdemeanors 14 



Penal Convictions under Colonial] ^ 



11 



2 



and English Statutes , 



Felony and Larceny 9 



Absence without Leave 8 



Absconding 4 



Disobedience of orders 3 



• Surely the number 21,037 entered as "persons" in this Return ought to 

 have been stated as cases. Everyday experience and observation bears witness 

 to the fact, that individuals charged with drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and 

 offences arising out of these, appear again and again in our Police Courts 

 within a comparatively short time. 



