(Return C.) Receipts of W. B., Police Officer in the Hundred of Ford, from November, 1837, to November, 1839. Appendix No. 8. Number of Robberies committed, and value of Property stolen, in the Hundred of Ford, from The population of the hundred is about 7,400, and the extent 12 or 13 miles long, by about nine wide. The inhabitants are agricultural, with a few miners (coal and lead), and there is no town in the district. No. 9. Suggestions communicated by Thomas Dyer, Esq., a Magistrate for the County of Surrey. To ascertain how far constables are effective for the duties they are intended to perform, it Appendix No. 9. will be necessary to investigate the nature of the duties, and the manner in which they are fulfilled. Before we can decide how these first moving powers of the complicated machine of criminal law acts in advancing or retarding the great object of the whole," the suppression and punishment of crime," it is necessary to examine those parts immediately in connexion with them, and in doing so, I will confine myself as much as possible to the particular object of your commission. By reference to the Appendix of the County Rate Commission, Second Report, it may be seen that almost every correspondent complained of the inefficiency of the parochial constables, and I submitted for their consideration some propositions for remedying those defects which bear directly on the county rate. I then contemplated only paid parish constables, under which system I proved, by calculation, that under the head alone of conveying prisoners to gaol a saving might be made of from 50 to 75 per cent.; but that plan would not meet the difficulties and delays of forwarding information, or executing process, as such constables would necessarily be confined to act within their parishes or districts, and that serious consequences arise from such restrictions, will be seen from the answers to questions 35 and 36. În my calculation I proposed that 3d. per mile should be allowed the constable for the conveyance of prisoners to gaol, as he, being only a parish constable, would have to convey the prisoners the whole way; the distance varying, as it does in the country, from 10 to 48 miles, too far for him to return the same day, it would therefore be necessary to make that allowance to cover his expenses. But if a general police were established, the policeman in charge of the prisoner at conviction should conduct him to the next police station on the road towards the gaol, and deliver him, with the commitment, to the police there, and so forward him on from station to station to the gaol, as by such regulation the policeman would not be taken any considerable distance from his station, and should be considered part of their duty, for which no extra allowance would be necessary. Thus ridding the county rates of one of its heaviest charges, and the charge for subsistence as at present allowed to constables entirely saved. The prisoner being allowed 6d. per day for subsistence the same as a military prisoner; this is thought too little by some with whom I am always sorry to differ, but I do so in this instance, on the principle that the worst crime a soldier could have committed to be under military escort must be desertion, a serious offence in military law, still in moral turpitude not equal to many (if any) of those crimes for which a civilian is sent to gaol. In case the distance should be too long to be performed in one day, the prisoner should be lodged at the police station as hereafter to be explained. Of course this mode could only be adopted with justice where the prisoner is committed under summary proceedings, or in default of sureties for the peace or good behaviour. Summary commitments bearing the proportion to commitments for trial of 100 to 1; it would be necessary to allow a certain extent of discretion to the committing magistrate in cases of bodily infirmity, and in all cases the prisoner ought to be allowed to provide a conveyance at his own cost. Appendix No. 9. Let me now compare the expenses of conveying 100 prisoners under the present mode with what they might be with an established police. Great reductions might be made also in the expenses of conveying prisoners to gaol before trial, but, as the subject of punishment, classification, and confinement in gaols, is under the consideration of Government, and some alterations from the present system would be necessary to carry it into effect, I will pass over that for the present. To arrive at the annual cost to the public and individuals for constables, it is necessary to ascertain their duties, what they are paid, and how often their services are required during the year. The following are the duties constables are usually called on to perform for the public and individuals, with the charges for such service :— Serving a summons or executing warrants in cases of the establishes his case, or is committed in default of non- For Individuals. For the Public 0 10.0 1 0 . 0 1 0 . . 0 1 0 Serving summons, executing warrants, as above, when summons, or with a One prisoner, 1s. per mile each Extra prisoner, 3d. per mile 000 Subsistence for constable 1s. per day; ditto one night 1s. 0 0 0 0 20 There are other duties, such as executing search-warrants, that are paid for according to the time occupied either by the public or by individuals, as the case may require. If the case goes to trial, the constable is allowed expenses from the county-rate. Having ascertained the constable's charges for each particular duty, it is only necessary to know how often he was employed in each case for the public or individuals, to decide the annual cost to each. From my register it appears that, in the year ending Oct. 1st, 1835, there were informations for the following offences laid before me for the parish of Chobham only: viz., 15 assaults, 7 under Peel's Act, 58 non-payments of poor-rates. But, of course, other cases were taken to different magistrates. The defendant paying the costs at the time of commitment, which are reimbursed to him out of the county-rate after trial, by the certificate of the committing magistrate. The following is a calculation of the expenses to constables for individuals and the publi- Appendix No, 9: for the above year :— CONSTABLE'S CHARGES for the Year ending Oct. 1, 1835; before THOMAS DYER, Esq., for the Parish of CHOBHAM.* £ s. d. 5 assaults. 1 13 0 0 8 0 0 12 0 0 6 0 5 16 0 £8 15 0 For individuals the last four years 11 18 8 14 13 8 Total for the year £23 8 8 CONSTABLE'S CHARGES for Cases before other Magistrates, for the same Parish and Year. Cases. See Total for the year .£8 17 0 Total for the year. 19 7 8 8 17 0 Total for the whole £29 4 81 CONSTABLE'S CHARGES for the Parish of CHOвHAM, from Oct. 1. 1835 to Oct. 1, 1836. 1 J. Drew To Individuals. £ s. d. 0 2 0 0 0 6 £ s. d. 0 5 Conveying J. Waters to Guilford 7 Conveying J. Waters 8 Conveying C. Dane to Kingston- 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 Stevens and Roberts to Guilford. 0 19 S. Waters to Guilford 25 J. Smith Appendix No. 9. In parishes where two or more police are stationed, their residences should be double, similar to the houses occupied by the horse patrol round London, to which should be attached a strong room, in lieu of the present ruined houses, and so constructed as to prevent those within from having any communication with those outside; and so divided as to allow of keeping male and female prisoners apart, and when necessary, prisoners under the same charge. I have felt the want of this (almost necessary) convenience, for when it is requisite to remand a prisoner to the round house, till the wanting link in the evidence against him can be got, or his associates in crime arrested; his companions without being in full communication with him, he may thus put them in possession of what is wanting in his case, may warn his companions in guilt to keep out of the way, or tamper with the wanting witness; and money is always forthcoming from those associations amongst depredators to assist the detected, and often set the law at defiance. That these associations do exist to a very great extent I could prove beyond a doubt. I will state a case in point:-A few weeks since, Jasper Smith, a labourer, and out of work, was committed by another magistrate and myself for an offence under the game laws; the fine and expenses amounted to £5. 8s., and although his conviction took place six miles from his residence, the money was paid in half an hour, having been collected in beer shops in this parish. It has attracted the notice of magistrates who usually attend assizes and quarter-sessions, that the worst characters (known by them to be without means) are always defended by attorney and counsel; and as the individuals of that profession do not in general advise or plead without fees, from whence does the money come? From the associations! With an efficient police, the more frequent detection of criminals would soon teach these societies that the law was too strong for their means. The beer shops too would be obliged to reform themselves; from their being under proper inspection, they could no longer remain the emporiums of stolen property, for if they did, discovery and conviction would in most cases take place. The bad character would forsake them, and the higgler would be deprived of the impunity with which he now receives and conveys stolen property, as the suspicious ones would soon be known to the police, and detection follow. Great relief would also be given to individuals, particularly the poorer class, in obtaining justice, as it would relieve them of constables' fees, 3s. out of 7s. or 8s. Another great advantage to be derived from a general police, would be getting rid of that useless delay, which too often allows the worst of criminals to escape; because a constable, in the execution of his duty, has crossed a highway, or some less defined boundary of a division or county, he must travel perhaps six or seven miles out of his way to get the warrant backed by a magistrate of the county, who, not being in possession of any of the particulars of the charge or information, goes through the form of putting his signature on the back as a matter of course, and the culprit has that time to escape. Last year an information was laid before me late in the evening against Mark Stevenson, for robbing in a dwelling-house; the constable traced him that night to Egham, (a distance of nine miles,) and there got information that he had been seen at Staines, at which place he found him at a public house; as soon as the constable entered the tap-room, Stevenson said to the constable, "You are no constable here, you are out of your county, and touch me if you dare;" when Stevenson attempted to make his escape, but having my orders to take him wheresoever he found him, the prisoner was handcuffed, but the constable was obliged to go four miles further to have the warrant made legal by being backed. I can state another case in which the delay caused by the constable being obliged to get a search warrant backed, allowed three felons to escape; for, although one, upon being taken, immediately acknowledged that he was guilty, and gave the names of his accomplices, and stated where the stolen property was at the time, it being necessary to remand him to the round house, where he had uninterrupted communication with those outside, no doubt a hint was given to his accomplices, who, not being obliged to find a magistrate to back the stolen property, took advantage of the "laws delay," and escaped with the whole of the property, leaving the constable to search an empty house on his return. With respect to the police generally enforcing the laws, there are some clauses in various Acts which have become quite a dead letter. This is particularly the case with respect to a clause in that most valuable Act to rural parishes, "The Highway Act," which has conferred on the public many advantages, and has relieved the landholder and farmer, particularly the smaller ones, from unfair (in as much as they were disproportionate) charges for the highways. But one clause (viz. 74) if enforced, is calculated to be of the greatest benefit to every person, in clearing the roads of a dangerous nuisance, (straying cattle,) and to the holder and occupier of land in particular, by saving him the expense and intolerable nuisance of continually having to clean out his ditches to be immediately trodden in again by straying cattle. This clause requires the surveyor to impound cattle straying on the roads, but as he is appointed by vote in vestry, he finds it convenient not to see stray cattle belonging to voters. The police would not have this feeling. Note.-There is another difficulty, the surveyor is required to find two magistrates (which is not easily done) to assess the costs and expenses, which may require two or three days, but should the owner demand the cattle before, the surveyor has nothing to guide him in his charges, and would not be justified in making any. There are two ways of meeting this difficulty, either by allowing one magistrate to decide, or authorizing the magistrates in petty səssions once a year to make out a list of charges for keeping and impounding cattle at so much per day, on which all surveyors of the parishes in the division should act. No. 10. LETTER from WOLRYCHE WHITMORE, Esq., High Sheriff of Shropshire. GENTLEMEN, Dover, Jan. 22, 1839. I am anxious to address you on the important subject of a rural police. I have long Appendix No. 10. been of opinion that our present system, if system it can be called, is most defective-that whatever might, in former times, have been the efficacy of a police, of which the parish constable is now the last remnant, it is at the present time of day "quite inadequate to the protection either of life or property,—and that, instead of repressing and preventing crime, it tends essentially, by its utter inefficiency, to promote it. I do not mean to assert that property or life are every where insecure, but that in so far as the police is concerned both are without protection; and that were it not that upon the whole the people are industrious, orderly, and disposed to keep, and aid in keeping, rather than in breaking the law, or screening offenders, there is no part of the rural districts where it would be safe to reside, or to adventure any portion of one's property." I hope and believe this favourable opinion of the people of England is generally true; but that places do exist where crime stalks abroad with all but impunity is also but too true. Witness the incendiarism to which large districts are exposed; witness the alarm which pervades the minds of men in other places, where what is called a bad spirit prevails; witness the long unchecked career of the poacher, the robber of hen-roosts, and the perpetrators of those other petty thefts to which rural districts are exposed. These last exist in every neighbourhood; many are well known, and exercise a species of tyranny over their poorer neighbours. It is against them, the weak and unprotected, their depredations are chiefly directed, and for such there is literally no safeguard. No neighbourhood is exempt from this scourge, and it really appears matter of chance whether any one may not be exposed to the still heavier infliction of being subject to the depredations of malefactors of a more desperate description. The quietest neighbourhood is often appalled by finding a gang growing up within it whose whole life is devoted to plunder, and who proceed from one degree of guilt to another until, after a long career in crime, they commit some atrocious act which arouses the tardy vengeance of the law, and extraordinary efforts are made to bring them to justice. But the grievance is, that this is not effected without extraordinary efforts. No ordinary means either of prevention of crime, or of bringing the daring offender to justice before he has completed the frightful circle of crime, exists. One abandoned character of superior mental powers is often the nucleus round which this gang of depredators congregates; his children are initiated in crime from their earliest. infancy, and his neighbours, particularly the younger part, are gradually seduced by his example and teaching into the same vicious courses. Poaching is not unfrequently the beginning of this career, and it is the more seductive, inasmuch as the sport and risk wherewith it is accompanied is peculiarly alluring to the young and the bold; it, however, soon. indisposes its followers for hard labour, and gradually prepares and stimulates them to more desperate enterprises. There is, however, another class of depredators, whose proceedings still more imperatively require the vigilance of an active police: I mean the itinerant, who strolls about the country, often in the guise of a beggar, and who is ever on the watch for prey. This class has of late much increased in the country districts, owing to the improved police of large towns, and the consequent difficulty of carrying on their trade in their old haunts. Every year this evil augments, and calls loudly for some alteration in the rural police, without which, indeed, it will soon amount to an intolerable grievance. I have stated thus shortly the evil. I will now say a few words as to the remedy. It can obviously be found alone in a good police: the example of London shows what may be done by this engine. I believe the necessity of some change in this direction is becoming a general opinion, and must ultimately lead to the establishment of a new police of some description or other. Under these circumstances, it is of great importance to consider what should be its character, how appointed, and how controlled. It is but too probable an attempt will be made to have this force appointed and directed by the magistrates. Great as my respect is for this body, I am far from being of opinion this would be a desirable arrangement; but that, on the contrary, to derive the greatest advantage from it, it should be under the control of officers quite independent of the magistrates; that the police of the country should be one general system, under one head,-an extension, in fact, of the metropolitan police. My reasons for this opinion are,-first, that the appointment in the hands of the magistrates would, in a great number of instances, if not the majority, be a job; that favouritism, party, or local politics, or an active canvass, would have much more weight than the efficiency of the candidate. Secondly, that there would be no effectual control over it; that it would be, from the first, untrained, and therefore ignorant; shortly become supine and careless, and but too probably corrupt; its duties would be thus inefficiently performed, and great dissatisfaction would be in consequence felt at the additional expense thus thrown upon the public. There is great danger of this force becoming so unpopular as greatly to detract from its usefulness. At first it could not but be looked upon with jealousy by those whose money you take to pay for it; and it would only be after a full conviction that they were repaid by greater security both of money and person that the public would be reconciled to the additional taxation. Now let this force be in the hands of the magistracy, and you would immediately create a suspicion that its efforts would be directed more to the prevention of crime by which the magistrate and his class are injured than to its repression generally. The poacher, or depredator in the immediate neighbourhood of the magistrate, it would be thought, is watched with undue attention, while the burglar, the highway robber, or the thief who plun |