asked the Home Secretary how many reports have been made to the police within the Metropolitan police area in the last year of the loss of carpenters' and joiners' tools by thefts; in how many cases were prosecutions instituted and in how many were convictions obtained; and in how many cases were any or all of the tools recovered?

Separate statistics of this class of simple larceny are not kept, but from an analysis of crime reports, which has been specially made for the three months ended 31st October, it appears that 454 cases of thefts of tools of various descriptions were reported during that period; in 32 cases the crimes were cleared up and in 26 the tools were recovered, but my right hon. Friend regrets that without further research it is not possible to give statistics of prosecutions and convictions.