ul number of 'attempts at burglary', and the
apparent contentment of the criminal classes with the small results
of their labours. But the Thanadar is too much for even Inspectors-
General and Secretaries to Government. No amount of reorganization
changes him.

19. Mr. R., when appointed magistrate of the district of Fathpur on
the Ganges, had a wish to translate the 'Henriade', and, in order to
secure leisure, he issued a proclamation to all the Thanadars of his
district to put down crime, declaring that he would hold them
responsible for what might be committed, and dismiss from his
situation every one who should suffer any to be committed within his
charge. This district, lying on the borders of Oudh, had been noted
for the number and atrocious character of its crimes. From that day
all the periodical returns went up to the superior court blank--not a
crime was reported. Astonished at this sudden result of the change of
magistrates, the superior court of Calcutta (the Sadr Nizamat Adalat)
requested one of the judges, who was about to pass through the
district on his way down, to inquire into the nature of the System
which seemed to work so well, with a view to its adoption in other
districts. He found crimes were more abundant than ever; and the
Thanadars showed him the proclamation, which had been understood, as
all such proclamations are, not as enjoining vigilance in the
prosecution of crime, but as prohibiting all report of them, so as to
_save the magistrate trouble_, and get him a good name with his
superiors. [W. H. S.]

Great caution should always be used by local officers in making
comments on statistics. The subordinate cares nothing for the facts.
When a superior objects that the birth-rate is too low and the death-
rate too high in any police circle, the practical conclusion drawn by
the police is that the figures of the next return must be made more
palatable, and they are cooked accordingly. So, if burglaries are too
numerous, they cease to be reported, and so forth.

The old Superior Court was known as the Sadr Nizamat Adalat, on the
criminal, and as the Sadr Diwani Adalat, on the civil side. These
courts have now been replaced by the High Courts, and equivalent
tribunals. In the author's time the High Court for the Agra Province
had not yet been established. Its seat is now at Allahabad, but was
formerly at Agra.

20. The gap has been filled up by numbers of Deputy Magistrates,
Tahsildar, &c., i