§ MR. NORMAN (Wolverhampton, S. )I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state the reason why the Criminal Statistics for 1903 were not published till December, 1904; and will he take steps to prevent such long delay in the corresponding publication for 1904.
§ *THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. AKERS-DOUGLAS, Kent, St. Augustine's)The hon. Member seems to be under a misapprehension. The Criminal Statistics for 1903, so far from being delayed, appeared at an earlier date than the statistics for any previous year since they assumed their present form. The Returns from which the statistics are compiled are not completely available until the middle of the year following, and the work of compilation and preparation of the introduction is extremely heavy. Perhaps I may add that the English statistics of crime are issued much earlier than those of most of the principal foreign countries.