1870-74 1 to 35,033 1 to 10,188 1 to 17,538
1884-88 1 to 38,007 1 to 7,892 1 to 11,911

Robbery. Arson.
1870-74 1 to 43,247 1 to 54,075
1884-88 1 to 70,767 1 to 77,018

This table shows that since 1870-74 there has been an increase in
murder, attempts to murder, burglary, and housebreaking, and a
decrease in manslaughter, robbery, and arson. The decrease in
shooting, stabbing, wounding, &c., is very small. (Cf. _Judicial
Statistics_ for 1874 and 1888, p. xvi.)

We have now arrived at the conclusion that crime is just as serious in
its character as it was twenty years ago, and that it is growing in
dimensions year by year; the next point to be considered is, the
relation in which crime stands to the population. Crime may be
increasing, but the population may be multiplying faster than the
growth of crime. Is this the condition of things in England at the
present day? We have seen that the criminal classes are increasing
much faster than the growth of population in France and the United
States. Is England in a better position in this respect than these two
countries? At the present time there is one conviction to about every
fifty inhabitants, and the proportion of convictions to the population
was very much the same twenty years ago. If we remember the immense
development that has taken place in the industrial school system
within the last twenty years--a development that has undoubtedly had a
great deal to do with keeping down crime--we arrive at the conclusion
that, notwithstanding the beneficent effects of Industrial Schools,
the criminal classes in this country still keep pace with the annual