CRIME reported in Strathclyde fell again last year - the sixth year in succession - and is down a third on the all-time Scottish high of 1991.

The outstanding crime figures were, however, accompanied by the stiffest warning yet to the Government that Strathclyde Police cannot take much more financial pain and still achieve the kind of results announced yesterday by Mr John Orr, the chief constable.

While the pronouncements yesterday by both Mr Orr and Councillor Bill Timoney, chairman of the solidly Labour joint police board, were guarded, The Herald is aware that the skirmishing with the Scottish Office, and in particular with Home Affairs Minister Henry McLeish, has already begun. Mr McLeish has been left in no doubt about the force's increasingly difficult situation. Officers are, one source has said, fighting the criminals with one hand tied behind their back.

Last time round the force asked for a standstill budget but instead received a 2.1% increase - far below wage inflation - which has meant a freeze on recruitment to keep crime operations going.

The force is 80 officers short of last year and 200 short of the optimum establishment as a result of the #9.3m revenue budget shortfall.

The capital grant is even worse - more than #10m short of the #16.35m the force requires to fund critical areas such as hi-tech laboratory equipment, computerisation, vehicles, and buildings.

Mr Timoney said yesterday: ''We all realise the Government are sticking to the tight Tory spending limits as promised before the election. But 88% of our budget goes on people and if they want to keep the crime heads falling and the current increased levels of public confidence in the police in this region, then they must provide us with realistic resources. There is no other choice.''

Mr Orr said: ''If I don't have the money I cannot run a police force. I am making this point very strongly in the appropriate quarters. There comes a point when the reduction in manpower, restrictions on overtime, and the inability to make full use of the latest technology will severely affect the force's ability to detect and deter crime.''

He added yesterday that Strathclyde Police had bucked a national trend last year by forcing down violent crime, a decrease of 6.5% on the previous year, and by increasing the detection rate for this type of crime to 61.2%.

He again voiced determination to attack the knife culture of the West of Scotland, while pointing to the fact that 109,501 personal searches by officers and high-visibility street patrolling had brought knife carrying offences down by close to 10%.

The use of knives in serious crime also fell as did attempted murders (down 10% to the pre-1993 level), serious assault (down 7.7% to the pre-1993 level), street robberies (down 10%) and attacks on the elderly - down a fifth.

This latter figure was the equivalent of just 1.2% of overall attacks last year, indicating that, contrary to widespread belief, the elderly are among the least likely to suffer violence.

Mr Orr attributed the 35% drop in the use of firearms in serious crime last year at least in part to the removal of guns from public hands post-Dunblane, and he anticipated further benefits to come.

A central plank of Mr Orr's strategy is to hammer hard the comparatively small drug-dealing community. This is paying dividends in forcing down other crime. A record 15,158 drug offences were reported to the procurator-fiscal, 13.6% more than the previous year, with the drug squad alone recovering mainly cannabis, heroin, and amphetamine worth a notional #10.5m.

Detection rates in the year were a force record of 36.7% and only one of the 68 murders, that of Tracy Wylde, remains undetected.

Since the 1991-92 high point, car crime is down 52% and housebreaking by 53%. Dishonesty offences and vandalism have also decreased.