crime under the Indian Penal Code, classes I to V* totalled 34,115. The totals of all reported cognisable crime, classes I to VI were 39,984, a substantial decrease of over 4,000 cases. All Districts and Railways, except Karachi, Hyderabad and Kanara recorded decreases under the Indian Penal Code. This general reduction in crime has been attributed primarily to the good monsoon and to the prevalence of favourable agricultural conditions during the year. On the G. I. P. Railway, moreover, the activities of a force of additional police, the despatch of armed escorts with goods trains and other measures had an excellent effect, as did the additional precautionary measures on the B. B. & C. I. and Sind Railways.

In East Khandesh the diminution in crime is partly attributed to the rounding up of two important criminal gangs comprising some 160 persons, while in Ahmedabad, Kaira, Broach, Bombay Suburban, Kolaba and West Khandesh districts preventive measures such as prosecutions under Chapter VIII, intensive night rounds, etc., are considered responsible for the decrease in crime. In Ahmedabad and Kaira Districts operations against dacoits produced the same effect. It has been suggested in the Police Report for 1922 that the reduction in the number of police stations and outposts resulting from the reorganisation scheme had the effect of curtailing the facilities available to the public for reporting crime to such an extent that many crimes remained unreported. This does not seem to be borne out by statistics as the figures of petty crime show an increase of over 11,000 and it is just this class of case that would be most likely to go unreported.

* Class I.--Offences against the State, Tranquillity, Safety and Justice such as those relating to Army and Navy, Coin, Stamps, Currency Notes, etc.

Class II. Connotes serious offences against the person, i.e., murder, culpable homicide, rape, unnatural offence, kidnapping, hurt, grievous hurt, etc.

Class III.-Serious offences against person and property or against property only, i.e., dacoity, robbery, mischief, house-breaking, house-trespass, etc.

Class IV.-Minor offences against the person such as wrongful restraint, and confinement, rash act, compulsory labour.

Class V.—Minor offences against property including theft, criminal breach of trust, cheating, receiving stolen property.

Class VI.-Offences under Special and Local Laws, against religion, etc.

+ Chapter VIII of the Indian Penal Code deals with offences against public tranquillity with special reference to unlawful assemblies, rioting, etc.

OF

MIC

There were nearly 26,500 cases of serious forms of crime reported, thefts being responsible for 14,367 cases and housebreaking for 9,184 cases. Dacoities numbered 362, murders 545 and attempts at murder and culpable homicide 233, a fall of over 16 per cent. compared with the figures for the previous year, the figures recorded being the lowest for five years.

Taking the figures for the previous year (1921), the incidence per mille of the population of cognisable crime reported in the year 1920-21 under classes I to V in the Presidencies and Provinces of India stood as under :

These figures show that there was an increase in crime in 1921 over the figures of 1920 in the North-West Frontier, the Punjab, the Central Provinces, the United Provinces, and in Bornbay and a decrease elsewhere. Burma was the most criminal province in India, as it was in 1918 and 1920, and Madras the least criminal as it was in 1919. Bombay maintained its position of 1920, viz. 4th on the list.

As regards total serious crime, Bombay stands 5th and in regard to burglaries 8th.

Turning to the incidence of crime for the year, the incidence of total reported cognisable crime under the Indian Penal Code per 1,000 of the population was 1.883 for the whole Presidency, that for Sind being considerably more than double that for the Presidency proper, viz. 3 693 as compared with 1.483. The Bombay Suburban District (5 005) and Karachi (5 386) continued to be the most criminal districts in the year of report, and Ratnagiri (276) and Thar and Parkar (2·026) the least.

The number of cases excluded as false or due to mistakes of law or fact was 8,217 against 8,992 in 1921, the lowest figure recorded for five years. Cases classed as being maliciously false numbered 1,264 or 2.65 per cent. and prosecutions were undertaken in 268 of these cases. In those brought to trial during the year nearly 54 per cent. of convictions were obtained, while in 228 cases magistrates awarded compensation to persons against whom frivolous or vexatious complaints had been made. Eliminating excluded' and 'pending cases', real cognisable crime disposed of during the year amounted to 32,934 cases as against 34,827 in 1921. An examination of the variations of crime under the several classes shows that the reduction under minor offences against property and serious offences against the person and property or property only was substantial, an improvement which was specially welcome since those forms of crime touch the life of the people most closely. Concurrently with the decrease in the number of reported cases and cases for disposal, there was a decrease of 1,661 in the number of undetected cases, the figure being 13,701, nearly 1,000 below the average annual figure. If Indian Penal Code cases are considered separately, however, the figures show that the percentage of undetected cases has risen from 46 58 in 1918 to 49.27 in the year of report, a slow but steady deterioration.

The Deputy Inspector General, Southern Range, remarks in this connection :

“The continued rise in the number of undetected cases is more or less due to the presence in the district of foreign criminals whose work generally remains undetected for a considerable period until they either make a blunder or their disguise is penetrated. The only solution of the problem is to have a small detective force headed by a Sub-Inspector whose sole duty should be to visit all different police stations in disguise and look for foreign criminals."

The Inspector General of Police, however, commenting on this and other suggestions says:

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A far more crying need is the expansion and reorganisation of the Presidency Criminal Investigation Department and the establishment of a Detective Training School. That money