22 



CRIMINAL STATISTICS. 



degree of instruction, which is directed rather to the improvement 

 of the mind than to the cultivation of the moral feelings of the 

 heart ; and in support of the accuracy of the reasoning, I think 

 I may point to the facts to which I am about to invite your 

 attention. 



"We will proceed then with the inquiry, and, before passing on 

 to a closer examination of our own statistics, I would take leave 

 to refer to those of the Mother Country, as they relate to the 

 bearing of instruction on crime. In the volume of Miscellaneous 

 Statistics of the United Kingdom of the year 1872 (the only one 

 I have been able to lay my hands on) I find a table showing the 

 degree of instruction of criminal prisoners in England and Wales 

 for the three years 1868 to 1870, by which it appears that 65 per 

 cent, belong to the classes which could read and write and had 

 received a superior education, whilst 35 per cent, are put down 

 to the ignorant or uninstructed classes. I am sorry that I cannot 

 give the proportion which the uneducated class bears to the whole 

 population. This information is very essential to the right appre- 

 hension of the question under consideration, but unfortunately it 

 does not appear in the statistics to which I have had access. Our 

 returns, as I before showed, give 75 per cent, as belonging to the 

 instructed classes, and 25 per cent, to the uninstructed. 



I will now proceed to analyze the gaol returns of New South 

 "Wales more minutely ; and, firstly, I will draw attention to them 

 as I find them classified into ages. Of the total number of 

 prisoners received into the gaols of the Colony for the thirteen 

 years under review there were as follows : — 



Under the age of 20 years 8" per cent. 



From 20 to 30 years 30' „ 



„ 30to40 „ 26- „ 



„ 40 to 50 „ 19- „ 



„ 50 upwards 17" „ 



100. 

 Thus we see that, whilst the average of crime up to twenty 

 years of age is represented by 8* in the 100", the next twenty 

 years (20 to 40) is represented by 56' in the 100' ; whilst the 

 remaining ages (from 40 upwards) yield 36' *n the 100". We 

 will now look to the degree of instruction with which these 

 people are credited. It is as follows, namely : — 





Under 20. 



20 to 30. 



30 to 40. 



40 to 50. 



50 and upwards. 



Read and write 

 Read only 



sa- 

 ls- 



32- 



66- 

 14- 

 20. 



61- 

 17- 

 22- 



57- 

 18- 

 25- 



49- percent. 

 17- 



Cannot read 



34- „ 









100- 



100- 



100- 



100- 



100- „ 



