No. 5. — 1849.] PRISON DISCIPLINE. 



177 



In calculating the progress of crime in the Island it 

 should be borne in mind the great advances the population 

 has made in civilisation during the last five years. It is 

 an admitted fact, that as new tastes are acquired and fresh 

 comforts and appliances are ushered into society by the 

 advances of civilisation, so will a certain class of offences 

 against the laws increase : new wants are created, new 

 desires spring up. Better clothing, larger houses, and 

 increased conveniences are all aimed at as the inhabitants 

 become acquainted with the habits and usages of their more 

 civilised neighbours. What at first were deemed luxuries 

 gradually assume the form of necessaries, and the demands 

 for the gratification of these new cravings become impervious 

 and irresistible, and either form effectual spurs to industry 

 and enterprise, or where these qualities are not called into 

 action, lead to acts of dishonesty, over-reaching, swindling, 

 and the like, and in this way we may account for an increase 

 in " offences against property." 



The tables furnished below will show that this class of 

 offences (against property) greatly predominates, and even 

 in the few " offences against the person " enumerated, there 

 has been in the majority of cases a remote bearing on the 

 subject of " property "; as, for instance, in cases of murder 

 and manslaughter, it will generally be found that the victim 

 has in some way stood between the offender and the 

 possession of property in the shape of land, money, jewels, 

 &c», which the latter was bent on obtaining. 



One of the tables exhibits a remarkable difference between 

 the five principal districts of the Island as regards the pre- 

 valence of offences against the person. Thus it would seem 

 that the offences of prisoners in the Colombo district have 

 been principally against property alone, only fourteen per 

 cent, having been convicted of offences against the person. 

 This may in a greater measure be attributable to the greater 

 degree of temptation thrown in the way of domestic 



