Our Criminal Classes. ii 
It is the experience of all Judges and Magistrates that 
drunkenness is the cause of more than half of our crime, 
so that anything which may supply our population with 
a pure and wholesome drink in place of what they now 
consume, would be a step in the right direction for the 
diminution of crime. 
These statements as to our criminal population may 
seem to some readers exaggerated, but I wish I could 
think they were. They are founded on the experience 
of 1 6 years on the Bench of this colony both as Judge 
and Magistrate. The prospect is dark enough, but the 
darkest hour of the night is the one before dawn, so we 
may look forward to a better time. Already during the 
last few years there had been a considerable diminution 
in the smaller offences, which are dealt with summarily 
by the Magistrates, and, although the Criminal Sessions 
still maintain their formidable dimensions, we may hope 
that at these also the Calendar may be reduced. The 
number of convicts in the Penal Settlement is smaller 
than usual and the prisoners in the Local Gaols are not 
so numerous as in former years. The discovery of gold 
in the S.W. of the colony has given a vent to many 
turbulent spirits, who were wasting their energies in 
making raids upon their fellow citizens. 
It was said of AUGUSTUS CESAR that he found a 
city of brick and left it of marble. It may be said of our 
city ^dile that he found Georgetown built of wood and 
that he will leave it a city of cement. It would be well 
if his energies were directed for some time to the slums 
of this large and ever increasing city, so as to do some- 
thing to remedy the condition of our poorer classes. If 
the existing Ordinances do not give sufficient authority 
B 2 
