Sydney is the headquarters of the fleet, and ranks as a first-class naval station, extensive repairing yards and store-houses having been provided for the accommodation of ships of war.

The Commonwealth possesses a number of vessels which are available for harbour defence in Victroia, Queensland, and South Australia. The names and classes of the vessels in Victoria are:

There are two vessels available for harbour defence in Queensland, and particulars of their armament are shown below :

In South Australia one twin-screw steel cruiser, the Protector, of 920 tons, is available. The armament of the Protector consists of one 8-in. 12-ton B.L., five 6-in. 4-ton B. L., and four 3-pdr. Q.F. This vessel has lately seen service in the war with China, and was reported by the Commander-in-Chief of that station to be "an efficient and well-kept man-of-war, reflecting credit on captain, officers, and men." There are also some large arms available in South Australia, comprising two 6-in. 5-ton B.L. guns, intended for use in an auxiliary gun-vessel, and five Gatling machine guns for boat or land service, while in Tasmania there is one torpedo boat with dropping gear for Whitehead torpedoes. New Zealand possesses three Thorneycroft torpedo boats and two steam launches fitted for torpedo work.

COST OF DEFENCE.

The following table shows the expenditure by the Commonwealth Government on naval and military defence, exclusive of expenditure under the Naval Agreement Act, for the year ended 30th June, 1904:—

The expenditure in each state, for the same period under the terms of the Naval Agreement Act, is given below:

State.

New South Wales

Victoria

Queensland

South Australia...

Western Australia

Tasmania

Commonwealth.....

:

£

88,375

41,947

18,030

22,832

13,961

11,081

£196,226

The annual contribution is £200,000. The amount paid includes an adjustment for arrears and over-payments under the old agreement. For New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania there were arrears of £23,180, £6,052, £3,559, and £2,939 respectively, while in Victoria and Queensland the sums overpaid amounted to £13,085, and £5,377.

In all the states, with the exception of Western Australia, a certain amount of money has been spent out of loans for purposes of defence. The amounts expended in 1903-4 were as follow :—

The total loan expenditure in each state for defence purposes to the end of the financial year 1903-4 was as follows:

The figures are exclusive of a sum of £312,485 expended in connection with the naval station at Port Jackson. Had this amount been taken into consideration, the total outlay in New South Wales would have reached about £1 per head, and for the Commonwealth 12s. 2d.

The above does not represent the whole cost of the fortifications, as large sums have from time to time been expended from the general revenues of the states in the construction of works of defence; the amount of such payments, however, it is now impossible to determine.

LAW AND CRIME.

CRIME.

In all the states proceedings against a person accused of an offence may be initiated either by the arrest of the culprit or by summoning him to appear before a magistrate. Serious offences, of course, are rarely dealt with by process of summons; but, on the other hand, it is not uncommon for a person to be apprehended on a very trivial charge, and this circumstance should not be forgotten in dealing with arrests by the police, which are unusually numerous in some of the states. Unfortunately, it is not easy to say how far the police of one state are disposed to treat offenders with such consideration as to proceed against them by summons, and how far those of another state are content to adopt similar action; for in most of the provinces the records do not draw a distinction between the two classes of cases; and in the table given on page 546, showing the number of persons charged before magistrates in each state during the year 1902, offenders who were summoned to appear are included with those arrested. It is likewise difficult to make a true comparison between the various states in the matter of the prevalence of crime, for there are a number of circumstances which must considerably affect the criminal returns and modify their meaning. The first of these, of course, is the question of the strength of the police force and its ability to cope with lawlessness, which must be decided chiefly by the proportion of undetected crime which takes place in the states. The policy adopted by the chief of police in regard to trivial breaches of the public peace and other minor offences against good order must also be taken into consideration; and then there are considerable differences between the criminal codes of the states, and in the number of local enactments, breaches of which form a large proportion of the minor offences taken before the Courts. Also, when the returns of the lower Courts are laid aside and the convictions in superior Courts taken up, the comparison is affected by the jurisdiction of the magistrates who committed the prisoners. In New South Wales, for example, the jurisdiction of the lower Courts is limited to imprisonment for six months, except in regard to cases brought under one or two Acts of Parliament, such as the Chinese Restriction Act, prosecutions under which are very few; while in Victoria a large number of persons are every year sentenced in Magistrates' Courts to imprisonment for terms ranging from six months

to three years. It is apparent, therefore, that in any comparison drawn between the number of convictions in the superior Courts of New South Wales and of Victoria, the former state must appear to great disadvantage.

An investigation into the differences between the law of New South Wales and of Victoria in respect to the jurisdiction of magistrates discloses some important results. Under the Victorian Crimes Act of 1890, 54 Victoria No. 1,079, it is provided by section 67 that Justices may try persons under sixteen years of age for the offence of simple larceny or for any offence punishable as simple larceny no matter what the value of the property in question may be, and persons over sixteen years of age where the property said to have been stolen is not of greater value than £2; and it is further provided by the same section that if upon the hearing of such a charge the Justices shall be of opinion that there are circumstances in the case which render it inexpedient to inflict any punishment, they shall have power to dismiss the charge without proceeding to a conviction. This provision, it is needless to say, is likely to reduce materially the number of convictions for larceny in Victoria. In New South Wales, on the other hand, the law does not give Justices any such power. In every case where the offence is proved they must convict the accused person, although in the case of offenders under the age of sixteen years they may discharge the convicted person on his making restitution, or in other cases deal with him under the First Offenders' Act and suspend the sentence; but in all such cases the conviction is placed on record and is accounted for in the criminal statistics of the state. Section 69 of the same Victorian Act gives Justices power to deal with any case of simple larceny, or of larceny as a clerk or servant, or of stealing from the person, when the accused pleads guilty, the punishment being imprisonment for any term not exceeding twelve months; while in New South Wales the law does not give Justices the power to deal with such cases when the property alleged to have been stolen exceeds the value of £20. This section must therefore tend materially to reduce the number of cases committed for trial in Victoria for the offences mentioned, although in all such cases the Justices may commit the accused person if they think fit to do so. Furthermore, it is provided by section 370 of the Crimes Act of 1890 that suspected persons who have been convicted of capital or transportable felony elsewhere and are found in Victoria may be arrested and sentenced to imprisonment for three years in the case of a male, and for one year in the case of a female. Such a protective provision is in force in some of the other provinces as well as in Victoria; but it was not until towards the close of 1903, when the Influx of Criminals Prevention Act was passed that New South Wales was similarly protected. These statements all go to show in what important respects the criminal statistics of the states must differ from each other, and how great care must be taken in making comparisons.

S