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  These courts have now been replaced by the High Courts, and equivalent tribunals.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., invested with magisterial powers, Honorary Magistrates, District Superintendents, and Inspectors, and yet all the old games still go on merrily.  The reason is that the character of the people has not changed.  The police must have the power to arrest, and that power, when wielded by unscrupulous hands, must always be formidable.

21.  A magistrate who can find in his district even one man, official or unofficial, who will tell him ‘the real state of things’, and not merely repeat scandal and malignant gossip, is unusually fortunate.