453 
Statistics of Van Diemen’s Land. 
Table 34 is a return of the roads, bridges, and culverts, &c., 
executed by the colonial government within the period ; Table 35 
is a useful list of the principal manufactories and trades in opera¬ 
tion, 51 in number; and No. 36 specifies the rate of wages to 
plasterers, bricklayers, carpenters, painters, masons, and joiners, 
at the average of 5s. 6d. per diem, and to quarrymen at 3s. 
Table 37 is a statement of the places of public worship, with 
the extent of accommodation afforded by the respective churches 
and religious denominations, and of the expenditure from the 
colonial treasury connected therewith during the three years; 
and No. 38 details particulars of the Government Schools under 
the Board of Education, which in 1846 were 23 in number, and 
had under tuition 1511 pupils (961 boys and 550 girls) at the 
cost of £3446 7s. 7d., or £2 5s. 7d. each. 
The next four tables (39—42) are highly important as indicative 
of the amount of crime in Van Diemen’s Land. The convictions 
for crimes against the person exhibit a decrease in 1845 of 50 per 
cent, as compared with 1844, and a further decrease of 8 per cent, 
for 1846. The convictions for crimes against property have also 
remarkably decreased, the number being in 1844, 321; in 1845, 
291; and in 1846, 175,—or 10 and 45 per cent, respectively, 
as compared with the first-named year. The executions have 
also been fewer since 1844; there having been in that year 16, 
in 1845, 13, and in 1846, 8,—exclusive of the 12 who paid 
the last penalty of the law at Norfolk Island. 
Tables 41 and 42 contain a classified list of the various offences 
brought under the cognizance of the police, with the punishments 
awarded. While the offences of convicts average about the same, 
a diminution of 28 per cent, is shown in the number of those 
committed by free people in 1846 as compared with 1845. It is 
lamentable to remark, however, the prevalence of drunkenness 
among the free population; for notwithstanding that 1846 
exhibits a decrease upon 1845 in this offence of 21 per cent, 
among the free, and the enormous increase among the convicts of 
131 per cent., still in this very same year, to their disgrace be it 
recorded, there were more convictions for this besetting vice 
among the free! 
