G1 413 Month. nomicWe. hoimciile. Month.

Jamr»ry— ll'"7 I'JUS Fthriiary r.ii'T i*jos March— r.Mt'?

April— r.t"7 r.<"s lift Ml May— l'.ii»7 llhK I'JO’I June— r.1'17 i'lUS I'.M'a 49 G7 75 51 52 93 52 55 70 64 84 63 55 68 79 26 19 43 20 43 51 3S 42 50 30 21 69 38 37 48 29 63 53 July— 19117 19118 . 1909 Aujjust— 1907 1908 1909 .. September-1907 .. 1908 . 1909 October— 1907 1908 . 1909 .. Kovember-1907 1908 . 1909 .. December— 1907 1908 . 1909 .

54 70 101 77 108 106 82 79 69 61 70 97 61 79 77 70 45 59 74 50 62 66 46 74 59 44 60 42 46 61 48 53 54 44 The law has been applied with moderation, and the 283 persons actually sent before the commissions last year were selected by the Ministry of the Interior from a list of upwards of 1,200 persons considered dangerous, and this list itself was compiled from a much larger list of persons indicated by the local authorities .as bad characters,* Moreover, so far as I have been able to ascertain, the decisions of the commissions concerning the persons sent before them were, almost invariably, unanimous. It seems, tlierefore, clear that these bodies have exercised the resjionsible powers entrusted to them with a degree of harmony which could scarcely have been anticipated. It would, however, be too much to hope that such concord among such heterogeneous elements should continue to prevail when more doubtful cases are brought before them, and, on all accounts, there can be little doubt that their powers should be ultimately transferred to the law courts: accused persons being tried b}* the ordinary judges on the definite issue of habitual criminality, as is done under the recent English Act for the prevention of crime.f It may be hoped that after the present commissions have been in operation for some short time longer, the emergenc}’- Avhich justified their institution will have passed away, and the population will have learnt to come forward and give evidence before the law courts with the same freedom and fearlessness as they appear to have displayed at the sittings of these commissions. In a report I have received from an experienced judge, who sat on one of these commissions, it is observed with C'Msiderable force:— “ If witnesses would come forward and speak the truth before the law courts, and furnish proof of their statements with the same courage, frankness and loyalt}’- as the witnesses who appeared before these commissions, no criminal would escape the just punishment of his crimes, and peace and tranquillity would be restored to the country.”

* In one Moudirieh .nlone, the loc.al authority, composed of tlic local head of the police (Mamour) and two notables, sent in a list of some six hundred persons wlio were “ notorious bad characters ” and ought all to w st-nt to the Oasis.

t Ihevention of Grime Act, 1908 (8 Edw, YU, cap. 59, sec. 10-16).

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