'REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY, FOR THE YEAR 1914-1915' [‎193r] (55/150)

1914-1915-]
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 2 g Chapter lit.
PROTECTION.
29 were deported, 36 were discharged having means, 16 were sent to the Strangers’ Home,
19 to the Salvation Army Home, 10 to friends and relatives, 2 to the lunatic asylum, 3 to the
.Sailors’ Home, 2 died, 1 was handed over to the House of Correction and 5 to the police.
Eighteen deserted and are still at large, 24 deserted, were re-admitted and convicted, and
there were 5 miscellaneous convictions. Expenditure fell from Rs. 9,409 to Rs. 9,357.
2. Only one person was admitted during the year, but she was admitted on 3 successive Government female
occasions. The expenditure amounted to Rs. 35. workhouse.
3.—Wild Animals and Venomous Snakes.
For details see tables under Wild Animals and Snakes printed in Part V of the Statistics of British India.
1. The reported mortality from snake-bites rose from 1,406 to 1,608. The death-roll in Casualties.
Ratnagiri was again the heaviest (225). Thana came next with 164 deaths. The Brunton
lancet was used in 82 cases. The patients recovered in 22 cases, but it is doubtful how far
the snakes in these cases were really identified as venomous. The number of persons killed
by snake-bite grows larger every year. Other wild animals caused the death of 18 persons.
The number of cattle killed by snake-bite was 698 (Thar and Parkar reporting 399 cases) and
by other animals 8,728. No fewer than 5,948 deaths of cattle are attributed to wolves in the
three Sind districts of Thar and Parkar, Nawabshah and Hyderabad.
2. The amount paid in rewards for the destruction of wild animals and venomous snakes Rewards,
rose from Rs. 5,157 to Rs. 6,227. In all 3,997 wild animals and 27,751 snakes are reported
to have been killed. The grant of rewards for the killing of snakes in the Ratnagiri district
was sanctioned during the year under report, but apparently the measure did not come into
effective operation during the year as there was a decrease in the number of snakes reported
to have been killed. Government have approved certain measures adopted by the Com
missioner in Sind in connection with the reported heavy losses of cattle owing to wolves in
the three districts above mentioned.
3. During the year 1,939 arms licenses for the destruction of wild animals were issued Licenses,
and the total number of such licenses in force was 14,742.
4.—Chemical Analysis.
For details see the Annual Reports of the Chemical Analysers to Government, Bombay and Sind, and the tables
under the Medico-legal investigations printed in Part VI of the Statistics of British India.
(1) Bombay.
1. The number of analyses performed at Bombay was 6,574 as against 7,213 for the General,
previous year. The Customs and Excise Departments submitted 3,511 articles for analysis.
2. Medico-legal cases investigated numbered 709 of which 343 were cases of suspected Medico-legal
human poisoning and 1 12 cases of suspected cattle poisoning. In 130 of the former and 47 of analysis -
the latter poison was detected. Blood-stains were detected m 94 out of 140 cases. During
the year 266 blood-stains were forwarded to the Imperial Serologist, Calcutta, who
reported that 184 were of human, 7 were of ruminant and one of canine origin. The total
number of examinations made in medico-legal cases was 2,057.
(2) Sind.
The total number of analyses carried out was 612. This figure, compared with the
figures 195 and 91 for-1913 and 1912 respectively, shows that the work in this laboratory is
rapidly increasing.
5.—Criminal justice.
For details see the Report on the Administration of Criminal Justice in the Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. of Bombay for the year 1914
and tables under Criminal Justice printed in Part VI of the Statistics of British India.
1. The total number of cases disposed of during the calendar year 1914 by C 5 °b Number of offences,
to 159,283. Of the total number of decided cases, 95-8 per cent, were original cases and
4-2 per cent, were cases in appeal and revision. The percentages for the previous year were
96 and 4. The total number of offences reported during the year was 161,502 as compared
with 163,994 in the preceding year. I he number of cases returned as true was i53>°53 or
94-8 per cent, of the total number of offences reported. Of the total number of cases
returned as true about 35‘2 per cent, were under the Indian Penal Code, and the rest under
special and local laws. Cases under the Indian Penal Code related chiefly to offences of
hurt, criminal force and assault, theft, mischief, criminal trespass and criminal intimidation, insult
and annoyance. There was a welcome decrease in the number of cases of offences against
the public tranquillity, of hurt, criminal force and assault and criminal trespass and of offences
under the Criminal Procedure Code and the Cattle Trespass, ATkari and Criminal ■ Tribes
Acts, but the most important decline was in cases of theft. On the other hand offences
under the District and Bombay Municipal Acts, Public Conveyance Act and District Police
Act rose in number markedly. Out of 729 cases affecting human life, 3^ were murders as
compared with 316 out of 823 in the previous year. The proportion of true offences to
population was 1 to 17 in Bombay, 1 to 65 in Ahmedabad and 1 to 66 in Karachi, while the
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