42 
COMMERCIAL YEAR BOOK OF THE 
showed a notable absence of rough crime. The charges of violence had been fewer than 
in either of the large towns, and fewer than they were in Bristol a few years'ago. The 
cheap amusements that were provided tended to keep people from wasting their time 
and getting into trouble. 
Statistics were as 
follow :— 
Total 
Y ear. 
Men. 
Women. 
Prisoners. 
1877 
3,094 
1,183 
4,277 
1905 
3,002 
847 
3,849 
1910 
2,118 
553 
2,671 
1911 
2,288 
527 
2,815 
1912 ... 2,398 
x4verage of the five preceding years :— 
562 
2,960 
Men. 
Women. 
Total. 
2,507 
662 
3,169 
In the year 1912 all the figures were below this average, as we have’stated, there 
being 209 fewer persons charged—109 men and 100 women. An important point has 
to be taken into account in regard to the above table. In 1877, when'there were 4,277 
prisoners, the population was only about 200,000. With an increase of 159,000 population, 
there was in 1912 a decrease of 1,317 prisoners. 
THE PORT OF BRISTOL. 
“ Instructed ships shall sail to quick commerce, 
By which remotest regions are allied; 
Which makes one city of the universe, 
Where some may gain and all may be supplied.” 
—Dry den. 
Bristol stands in a remarkable position with regard to its docks. Over six millions 
of money have been invested in this gigantic undertaking, and although the capital has 
been raised by debentures in the open market, the investors have been accorded the 
security of the city’s rates, and the ratepayers have to meet the difference between revenue 
and liability. This responsibility is the larger because, while a dock-owning company 
is not obliged to provide for the restoration of its capital to the shareholders in a specified 
period, the law requires a municipality to liquidate its liabilities in a given term 
of years. Thus, periodically, large payments have to be made to a sinking fund. This 
and other important facts have to be borne in mind when judging the financial position 
revealed by the dock accounts ; but, leaving such complexities, the broad fact remains 
that the citizens, by their own votes, have taken upon themselves large obligations for the 
development of the port, and annually pay a very substantial sum for this object. The 
reason for this becomes apparent when the events of past centuries are understood. 
The history of the city and of the port is so linked that to a large extent the story of the 
ore is the story of the other, and in these twin phases of its being, to a degree that few 
cities can equal, it presents the picture of the slow evolution from primitive conditions 
of human existence to the highly organised life of to-day. In the introductory sketch 
a reference has been made to Bristol’s first great dock scheme—-the construction of a 
new channel from the Frome to the Avon, and its adaptation for dock purposes. This 
work was carried out in the middle of the thirteenth century. 
After this herculean effort for a community with possibly not more than 4,000 or 
5,000 inhabitants, no really great dock scheme engaged attention for several centuries. 
Quays were built, but the old Corporation were not over anxious for responsibility. Entries 
in their accounts of the purchase of tombstones from ancient churches for the repair of the 
wharves are not suggestive of zeal in dock development, and the powerful Guild of Merchant 
Adventurers were for a long period allowed to treat the docks as if they were the owners. 
’V et it was in this period that Bristol’s fame as a port was attained. The enterprise of its 
ship-owning merchants became famous; for its share in empire-building it stands with 
scarcely a rival; its docks were crowded with sturdy craft, many of them built in the