The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-03-22 00:00:00

THE N\TIONAL COST OF CRIME

The estimates for the " civil service" for the ensuing year dis-
close some startling facts connected with the cost which the
commission and punishment of crime entails upon'the country.
We find that the general law charges for England, Ireland,
and Scotland (the last providing the cost of its own constabu-
lary),atuotints to £1,350,709. It must not, however, be sup.-
posed that the above sum includes all the expenses of our law
courts ; there is a further sum of neatly £400,000 chargeable
on the "consolidated fund." The proportions in which this vote
is distributed to the three kingdoms will at first sight surprise
one. The total estimate for England is only £-170,000; fur
Scotland it is only £135,000; while for Ireland alone
it is £745,000. The large sum required for the sister
island is due to the fact that, besides a grant of £35,000 for
the Dublin police, £639,000 is required for the Iris.' consta-
bulary. In England the charge for police is confined to the
metropolis, and the sum required is one-fifth of that required
for Ireland. The expense of the metropolitan police courts
for the ensuing year is calculated at £29,000. This is
exclusive of £28,000, the salaries of twenty-three police
magistrates, which are charged on the consolidated fund, and
it includes the salaries of twenty-three clerks, of fifty-one
ushers, gaolers, and messengers, rent, coals, and other
small items, together wtth the cost of the Police Gazette,
which is £3,688. The charge for the police force itself is
£415,000, of which £102,000 is to be voted by the House of
Commons, the rest of the expense being defrayed by parish
rates and by those departments which require the services of
the force. The force consists of 5,807 persons, who receive
pay amounting to £314,500, besides clothing, that amounts to
£34,300, and other benefits,—coals, for example. The coals
supplied to sergeants, constables, and Fohce stations cost
£6,169. The pay of each individual varies from £5O
upwards. The pay of inspectors varies from £Bl to £2OO,
the majority receiving £llB. In Ireland the remuneration is
on a lower scale, and begins as low as £24. The great mass
of the constabulary receive only £27 14s. a year.
While our law charges are raised for the increased expense
of police, the prison and convict services require £11,001) less
than in the previous estimates. Tile expenses of transporta-
tion, fur example, are, as might be expected, not half what
they were last year. Last year the estimate was £59,000 ;
this year it is £25,000. In the same way the expenses
of the convict establishments in ihe colonies aro £286,000,
or £ll,OOO under the estimate of last year ; while,
on the other hand, tiro Government prisons and
convict establishments at borne become more expensive in
almost the same proportion. Last year they cost £375,400 ;
this year they are set down for £40,000 additional. The vic-
tualling of the prisons alone is to cost £11,000• more than last
year. In these it may be observed that the cost of feeding each
inmate varies considerably in the different establishments.
In the Perth prison it is as low as £7 Is a-year for each ;
in the Portland prison it is as high as £l2 lOs for each. At
all the prisons for females the charge is £8 for each ; it is so at
Millbank, where the charge for male convicts is £9. The
clothing for prisoners varies equally. At Millbank the rate
for male convicts is 55s annually ; for females, only 40s. At
Newgate the cost is 22s 6d ; at tiortsmouth and Chatham it is
highest of all-70s. It is true that £l2 lOs for victualling
each one of 1,500 prisoners appears not to be au
extravagant sum, but it may be extravagant when compared
with the £7 Is. of Perth, the £8 of Brixton, or the £9 of
Newgate. In themselves these items may not be very inte-
resting, yet, indicating as they do, not simply the cost of
crime, but also the amount of luxury enjoyed by the prisoner
in his confinement, they open up questions that aro really
momentous.

SINGULAR AND DELICATE INVESTI-

GATION

At the Lambeth police court on Thursday, Mr George
Lewis, of the firm of Lewis and Lewis, attorneys, in Ely-place,
Holborn, attended before the Hon. G. C. Norton on behalf
of Miss Jane Oakford, a lady residing at 98, York-road,
Lambeth, to meet a charge of felony, preferred against his
client under the following somewhat singular circumstances :
Mr. Lewis said that in the course of the afternoon of the day
before a policeman was brought to the residence of his client
by a gentleman under whose protection she had been for some
years, and she was given into custody of the officer, when she
requested to be allowed to put on her bonnet. This permission
was granted. The lady managed to lower herself by means of a
rope from the back window, and, having gained the street, got
into a cab and drove to his (Mr. Lewis's) office. She then
instructed him (Mr. Lewis) to write to the gentleman, to say
that she should be in attendance at this court at two o'clock on
that day to meet the charge of stealing the watch or any other
charge he might think proper to prefer against her, and that the
reason she left her home was, that she did not like to be in.
carcerated in the cell of a police station for a whole night.
William Oaks, 30 L, the officer engaged in the affair, said
that about one o'clock on the day before the Rev. Mr. Harris,
a clergyman belonging to the church of England, whose
livings, he understood, were in Wales, or close to it, but
who was residing at 98, York-road, Lambeth, called at the
Tower-street station and said he required the assistance of
an officer respecting the loss of his gold watch and ap-
pendages, arid he (Oaks) was ordered by the inspector on
duty to accompany him and make the requisite investigation.
On reaching the house the rev. gentleman told him that on
coming down to breakfast on that morning he left his watch
safe in his bedroom, and on his return he missed- it. He then
examined Lis boxes, and missed several articles of property
from them which no one but Miss Oaktord could have taken,
he should therefore give her into custody for stealing his
gold watch and appendages. The lady declared that Mr.
fiatris had given her the watch, and said she had been living
with him as his wife for some years, but wished to get rid
of him. At this time the lady went into the back palour,
and, having remained there some Liiuutes, Mr. Harris
knocked at the door several times and called out " Jane !
Jane !" but received no answer. Ho (Oaks) asked the rev.
gentleman whether these was a possibility of the lady
making her escape ?—and he replied not, for that the
windows of the apartment were at least twenty feet from
the ground. Witness went outside, and seeing a rope
dangling from the window at once concluded that the bird
had flown. Mr. Harris, finding that the lady had effected
her escape, gave him and another constable who was present
at the time orders to apprehend her wherever he found
her. Mr.. Norton thought the best course was for the
officer to proceed to the house in York-street and inform
the gentleman that Mr. Lewis was in attendance to meet
the charge. Oaks accordingly started on his mission, and
on his return said he saw both the rev. gentleman and the
lady at the house, and apparently on the most friendly
terms ! and the former said that it was not his intention
to pursue the matter further ; thus has ended this
delicate though—to a clergyman—not creditable affair.

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE AND HER

PATIENTS

At Stamford, on Monday evening last, Mr. Augustus
Stafford, M.P., delivered a lecture which comprised a
recital of his own personal experiences in the Crimea.
From that lecture we cull a tributary gem to one iwhose
services and exertions in the cause of suffering humanity
serve as an example to her sex. Mr. Stafford remarked
thrt he was at Scutari in the Autumn of 1854, and then
he saw the horrors which all had heard described, and
which be would not attempt to describe again. He was
there in the autumn of 1855, and all was changed. Con-
fusion had given place to order, filth to cleanliness, the
aggravation or neglect of every human suffering to the
mitigation of all the evils of war. But there was
one thing not changed. He found among our soldiers
the same good feeling, the same noble demeanour, the
same heroic spirit that he had witnessed the year before.
And there was another thing not changed ; for in the same
little room, with no luxuries and very, very few
comforts, engaged in her ceaseless work, there he
found Florence Nightingale. Considering the difficulties
she had to contend with, she had been one of the
the few that had not disappointed England. He was in
the French tent hospital at the front of the camp, and
they owned that in the comforts and luxuries supplied
to the sick and wounded, they could no longer compete
with us. He asked Miss Nightingale, " What do you
think of the soldiers now ? " She said, "They have
their faults, and those who, in their several positions in
life may feel that they have a little neglected the educa-
tion of the lower orders, will be the last to blame those
brave men for the faults they do possess ; but they res-
pond to kindness, and they recognise discipline, and, for
ourselves, we have never heard from them one word or
seen one gesture that might not have been fitted for the
drawing-room.—They have been to us, and to all the
ladies, and gentlemen Christians." He asked one poor
fellow what he thought of Miss Nightingale, and the
reply was—" Well, I hope she will go up to Heaven
before she dies."

A Piuza SCROONER.—We find the following in the
Waterford News :—The steam tug Rattler, Captain Barnes,
of Liverpool, brought into this port (Waterford) on the 11th
inst., the schooner Effort, of Glasgow, from Charente, with
a cargo of brandy, having picked her up off Tuskar, aban-
doned, waterlogged, and on her beam ends. The crew of
the Effort having recently arrived in Liverpool and reported
the loss of the vessel, a steamer was sent to look for her,
but failed to find her, The Rattler while engaged in towing
an Australian mail packet down Channel, saw the vessel,
and asked the captain of the Australian bound ship to give
him his discharge, which we are told he declined to do, aae.
Captain Barnes, sooner than lose his prize, cut the hawser,
proceeded to the schooner, and took her in tow.
Tan CONCORDAT.— Foss's Gazette of Ber:in contains a
letter from Vienna, which says :—" The concordat bears
every day fresh fruits, and the control given to the clergy
over schools of all kinds is felt more and more. A. total
reform in the University of Vienna is already spoken of, as
well as a revision of the statutes given to it in 1849 by the
Minister of Pnblie Instruction. This rumour appears to be
the better based, front the fact that the organs of the ultra-
montane party do not cease reminding their readers that
the university, founded by Rudolph of Hapsburg, should
be, aceordinir to the intention of the founders, a nursery of
religious doArine and ascetic life, and that, consequently,
the colour of the science taught there—philosophy, theo-
logy, niedicine, and law—ahould be in conformity with
t
te instruction
aof the Roman catholic church."