754; escaped, 12 males; committed suicide, 14 males, 3 females, total, 17; died, 191 males, 49 females, total, 240; executed, 9 males; totals, 107,672 males, 33,675 females, total, 141,347; remaining in prison at the end of the year criminals, 13,895 males, 4,123, females, total, 18,018; debtors, 466 males, 29 females, total, 495; totals, 14,361 males, 4,152 females, grand total, 18,513.

The total number remaining in prison at the end of the year, that is, on September 29, 1865, exceeded the number remaining at the close of the preceding year by 383, or 2.1 per cent. In the total number of debtors remaining there was a decrease of seven; the increase in the number of criminals being consequently 390.

The greatest number of prisoners` under confinement at one time, and the daily average, were as follows, for the past year :

Greatest number at one time, 17,957 males, 4.803 females, total, 22,400; daily average, 14,334 males, 3,827 females, total, 18,161.

The number of prisoners under confinement at the commencement of the year, and the number committed during the year, taken together for 1864-65, viz. 155,551, were less than the corresponding number for the preceding year by 2,535. The greatest number at one time was less by 480; and the daily average by 350.

The number of prisoners under sentence of hard labour was:- 59,462 males, 17,354 females, total, 76,816.

Under the Prisons Act, 1865, hard labour is to be of the first and of the second class, the former to consist of work at the treadwheel, shot drill, crank, capstan, stone-breaking, or such other like description of hard bodily labour as may be appointed by the justices with the approval of the Secretary of State; the latter, of such other description of bodily labour as may be in like manner appointed; and it is proposed that the capacity of each prison with respect to each description of labour, and the numbers employed, shall, as far as possible, be shown in next year's returns.

The deaths were in the proportion of 1 in 666 of the number of prisoners under detention during the year, the proportion among the males being 1 in 638-9, the proportion among the females 1 in 751.5. In the preceding year

the proportion was 1 in 659-1, with regard to the total number; in 1862-3 it was 1 in 746.6; in 1861-2, 1 in 841.1; in 1860-1, 1 in 822-7. The infirmary cases in the past year were 1 in 34-7; in the preceding year they were 1 in 35.6. The cases of slight indisposition were 1 to 25; in the preceding. year they were 1 to 2.7. The cases of insanity were 1 in 1,158-4; in the preceding year they were 1 in 1,129.9; in 1862-3, 1 in 1,223.7; in 1861-2, 1 in 999-8; in 1860-1, 1 in 1,167-8; in 1859-60, 1 in 896.9.

The number of punishments of each description for offences committed in prison was as follows for the whole of the prisons :

Whipping, 130; irons or handcuffs, 177; solitary or dark cells, 18,053; stoppage of diet, 42,807, total, 60,667.

The total number shows an increase of 3,022, or 5.2 per cent., as compared with the number for 1863-4, and following a still greater increase in each of the years 1862-3, 1861-2, and 1860-1, as compared with each preceding year. In the cases of whipping there is an increase of ten. The cases of irons or handcuffs show an increase of 55, 8 with regard to the males, and 47 with regard to the females.

The following are the numbers of each class of prison officers :—

Governor and deputy-governor, 172 males, 2 females, total, 174; chaplains, 143; surgeons, 140; clerks, schoolmasters, and schoolmistresses, 142 males, 37 females, total, 179; matrons, 134; warders, 1,062 males, 219 females, total, 1,281; other subordinate officers, 307 males, 65 females, total, 372: totals, 1,966 males, 457 females, total, 2,423.

The total gives 1 officer to 7.5 of the daily average number of prisoners. In 1863-4 this proportion was 1 to 7-8; in 1862-3, 1 to 8; in 1861-2, 1 to 7·7; in 1860-1, 1 to 7; in 1859-60, 1 to 6.5

The total cost of the prisons under each head for 1864-5 was as follows:

1. Buildings and establishment chargesextraordinary charges: repayment of money borrowed, interest, &c., 70,036l. 11s. 10d.; new buildings, additions, and alterations, 49,8601. Os. 6d. ; total, 119,896l. 12s. 4d. Ordinary annual charges: necessary repairs, 19,930. 6s. 7d.; rent, rates, and taxes, 2,8471. 1s. 6d.; fuel and light, 32,770l. 98. 10d.;

furniture, bedding, &c., 8,3721. 48. 31.; printing, stationery, and books, 6,8581. 98. 2d.; removal of prisoners, 5,894%. 2%. 9d.; other establishment charges, 27,0437. 78. 4d. ; total, 103,7167. 18. 5d. 2. Officers: salaries and fees, 177,9957. 18. 21.; clothing and allowances, 10,0017. Os. 11d.; pensions, 9,3021. 118. 3d. : total, 197,2987. 138. 4d. 3. Prisoners: diet, 97,781l. 148. 3d.; sick allowances and medicines, 4,6501. 128. 5d.; clothing, washing, and cooking, 32,9891. 68. 8d.; earnings or other payment on discharge, 2,4741. 13s. 10d.; total, 137,8461. 7%. 2d.; grand total, 558,7577. 148. 3d. The yearly average charge per prisoner under each division of cost was as follows:

Buildings and fittings: extraordinary charges, 61. 12s.; ordinary annual charges, 5l. 14s. 3d. -127. 6s. 3d.; officers and attendants, 10. 17. 3d.; prisoners' diet, 51. 78. 7d.; clothing, &c., 21. 4s. 2d.; total, 30l. 15s. 3d. ; or, omitting the extraordinary charge for buildings and fittings, 211. 38. 3d.

The highest average cost per head in separate prisons will be found at Alnwick County Gaol and House of Correction, viz., 108l. 2s. 5d., against 887. 158. 11d. in the preceding year, with a daily average of one prisoner for each year; at Oakham County Gaol and House of Correction, viz., 871. 1s. 9d., with a daily average number of prisoners of eight, against 804. 118. 2d. in the preceding year, with a daily average number of prisoners of ten; at Tiverton Borough Gaol and House of Correction, viz., 77. 10s., against 517. 11s. 7d. in the preceding year, with a daily average number of prisoners of four for each year; at York County Gaol and House of Correction, viz., 711. 19s. 1d., with a daily average number of prisoners of sixty-two, against 781. 12s. 8d., with a daily average number of prisoners of fifty-eight, in the preceding year; and the lowest at Salford County House of Correction, viz., 14l. 13s. 11d., with a daily average of 584 prisoners, against 14l. 13s. 6d., with a daily average of 575 prisoners, in the preceding year; at Kingstonupon-Hull Town Gaol and House of Correction, viz., 14. 15s. 10d., with a daily average of 167 prisoners, against 16l. 7s. 6d., with a daily average of 149 prisoners, in the preceding year; at Falmouth Borough Gaol, viz., 15l. 13s. 11d., with a daily average of twelve prisoners, against 26. 8s. 1d. in the preceding year, with a daily

Prison receipts: profit of prisoners' labour, 33,7951. 4s. 8d.; vagrants' money applied to maintenance, 691. 17s. 3d.; other small contingent receipts, 10,9927. 2s. 5d.; total, 44,8571. 48. 4d. Local rates and funds: of counties, 289,5121. 7s. 5d.; of cities or boroughs, 92,2671. 148. 2.; of other counties, for prisoners under contract, 4,5711. 3s. 7d.; of other cities or boroughs, for prisoners under contract, 17,2837.11s. 7d.; total, 403,6341.16s. 9d. Public revenues: proportion of the charge for convicted prisoners, 132,9087. 11s. 8d.; removal of convicts, 3,5981. 8s. 11d. ; customs, for revenue prisoners, 212. 13s. 2d.; army and navy, for military and naval prisoners, 3,545. 19s. 5d.; total, 110,2657. 13s. 2d. Grand total, 558,7571. 14s. 3d.

The convict prisons, eleven in number, are the same as those named for the preceding year, viz., Fentonville and Millbank, used for the imprisonment of convicts in separate confinement under the first stage of discipline, the former being for male convicts only, the latter for both males and females; Chatham, Portland, and Portsmouth, for the convicts employed on public works, undergoing the second stage of discipline; Broadmoor, the prison for lunatic convicts, where a certain number of convicts are at present employed on the prison works; Dartmoor and Woking for invalids; and Brixton, Fulham, and Parkhurst, for females undergoing the second stage of discipline.

The following are the numbers for the whole of the prisons, as shown in the returns for 1865-6, with the total daily average in the year: The number of convicts undergoing sentence at the commencement of the year was 5,967 males, 1,274 females, total, 7,241; the number received from county and borough prisons, &c., 2,753 males, 354 females, total, 3,107; total in the year, 8,720 males, 1,628 females, total, 10,348.

During the year there were removed to the colonies, viz., Western Australia, 845 males. Removed to county gaols, 4 males; to schools, or reformatories, or refuges, 1 male, 74 females, total, 75; to lunatic asylums, 9 males, 3 females, total, 12. Discharged-viz., on termination of sentence, 142 males, 41 females, total, 183; on tickets-of-leave, 1,866 males, 387 females, total, 2,253; on tickets-of-leave on medical grounds, 1 male, 4 females, total, 5; on commutation of sentence, 2 males; on pardon, 13 males; died, 110 males, 17 females, total, 127; committed suicide, 2 males; escaped, 1 male: total disposed of during the year, 2,996 males, 526 females, total, 3,522. And there remained in prison at the end of the year, 5,724 males, 1,102 females, total, 6,826. The total daily average in the year was 5,971 males, 1,213 females, total, 7,181.

The number received from county and borough prisons, as compared with the number for the preceding year, shows an increase of 29, or 1.0 per cent., with regard to the males, and a decrease of 93, or 20-8 per cent., with regard to the females, the decrease in the total number being 64, or 2.0 per cent. In the number removed to the colonies there is an increase of 364, or 75.6 per cent.

The total number of prison officers was as follows:-Governors and deputy-governors, 17 males, 5 females, total, 22; chaplains and assistant chaplains, 20; schoolmasters, Scripture readers, and schoolmistresses, 41 males, 14 females, total, 55; medical officers, 16; clerks, 62; subordinate officers, servants, and guards, 1,008 males, 137 females, total, 1,145. Grand total, 1,164 males, 156 females, total, 1,320.

The cost of the convict prisons was-for fuel and light, buildings, repairs, &c., 34,6481.; officers' salaries and wages, 120,2081.; prisoners' diet, clothing, &c., 80,9177. : total, 235,733/., or a gross annual cost per convict of 32l. 16s. 4d., or, with some deduction for rent and sale of old stores, 311. 7s. 3d. In addition to the convicts in the Government prisons, 734 male convicts were in local prisons at a cost of 19,894l., inclusive of a proportion of the salaries of the prison officers, and the whole of the expenses of the convicts. From this is to be deducted 1361. Os. 6d., rent of officers' quarters, and 2,3371. 11s. 9d., the produce of labour paid

over to the Exchequer, making together 2,337/. 11s. 9d., and leaving 17,556l. 11s. 10d. as the net expense of the convicts for the year. The annual charge per prisoner, calculated on the gross amount, is 34l. 19s. 3d.; calculated on the net amount, 30l. 17s. 1d.

Adding together the numbers remaining in custody in the Government and the local prisons, the total number of convicts undergoing penal servitude in England on the 31st March, 1865, appears to have been as follows, in comparison with the number for the preceding year:1866-6,315 males, 1,213 females, total, 7,558; 1865-6,701 males, 1,274 females, total, 7,975.

The total net expenses for each year were:-1866-244,6897. 1s. Od.; 1865252,685!. 9s. 11d.

To the list of reformatory schools given in the statistics of 1864, for all of which returns have been made for the year ended the 29th September, 1885, is added the Clarence hulk at Liverpool, for which, although certified in August, 1864, no return was made in that year. The number of schools certified under the statutes of the 17th and 18th Vict. c. 86, and 19th and 20th Vict. c. 109, which for the years 1863 and 1864 was fifty-one, is thus raised to fifty-two for 1865, the latter number having appeared also in the list for 1862, but not having been reached in any previous year.

The total number of offenders committed to these schools since the passing of the first above-mentioned statute-the age at which commitments may be made being limited to under sixteen-is 10,124, 8,280 males and 1,844 females, giving an average of 844, 690 males and 154 females, for each year. The number committed during the year ended the 29th September, 1865, was 1,185, exceeding by 178, 164 males and 14 females, or 17.6 per cent., the number in the preceding year, and exceeding the average of the eleven years preceding 1864 by 373, 296 males and 77 females, or 45.9 per cent.

The following were the terms of detention of the 1,185 offenders committed in 1865:

Previous imprisonment-fourteen days, 436; one month and above fourteen days, 548; two months and above one month, 133; four months and above two, 64; above four months, 4; total, 1,185.

Subsequent detection in reformatory-two years, 36; three years and above two years, 295; four years and above three years, 187; five years and above four years, 667; total, 1,185.

Of the total number, 261, or 22 per cent., were committed after conviction on indictment; 924, or 78 per cent., upon summary conviction. The proportions in the preceding year were 25.4 per cent. on indictment; 74.6 per cent. on summary conviction. In 1865, 86.5 per cent. of the whole number were committed for larcenies and attempts to steal; 4.5 per cent. for housebreaking, shopbreaking, and burglary; these proportions having been in the preceding year 88.3 per cent. for larcenies, &c., and 3.7 per cent. for housebreaking, &c.; the remaining commitments in each year were for various offences, including unlawful possession of goods, fraudulent offences, embezzlement, horse stealing, sheep stealing, robbery on the highway, arson, and wilful burning, wilful damage and other malicious offences, assault, forgery, vagrancy, &c.

At the end of the year the number of offenders at the reformatories was 3,388.

The following are the classified numbers of the previous commitments to prison of the offenders committed to the reformatories in 1865:

Once, 354 males, 45 females, total, 399; twice, 119 males, 13 females, total, 132; thrice, 54 males, 1 female, total, 55; four times, 26 males, 5 females, total, 31; five times, 5 females; seven times and above five times, 4 females; above ten times, 1 female: total, 553 males, 74 females. Grand total, 627.

Of the males committed during the year, 50.8 per cent. could neither read nor write; 35.9 per cent. could read or read and write imperfectly; and 10.2 per cent. could read and write well. In the preceding year these proportions were 52.2 per cent. who could neither read nor write; 42-7 per cent. who could read or read and write imperfectly; and 5.1 per cent. who could read and write well. Of the females in 1865, 43.3 per cent. could neither read nor write; 46-4 per cent. could read or read and write imperfectly; and 8-9 per cent could read and write well; of three the state of instruction was not ascertained. In the preceding year the proportions were

53.8 per cent. who could neither read nor write; 35-2 per cent. who could read or read and write imperfectly; 8.5 per cent. who could read and write well, with a few whose state of instruction was not ascertained.

The total amount payable by her Majesty's Treasury for the year on account of the reformatories was 48,505l. 15s. 1d., being more than the amount for the preceding year by 1,1981. 8s. 2d., or 2.5 per cent. The sum of 2,318l. 6s. 7d. was recovered from the parents in diminution of the expenses, this sum exceeding the amount recovered in the preceding year by 621., or 2.7 per cent.

In the table for the year ended the 29th September, 1865, the names of 31 schools (inclusive of the Havannah Ship at Cardiff), certified under the Industrial Schools Acts, will be found, being two more than the number for the preceding year. Schools at Franklin's Row, Chelsea, at Sunderland, at Birkenhead, and at Broomfields, near Bradford, are added to the list; while the North-western Industrial Home, and the school in York Street, Westminster, which were included in last year's list, are now omitted.

The number of children under detention at the commencement of the year, that is, on the 30th September, 1864, was 858, 600 males and 218 females, including those returned from the Boy's Home, Euston Road, whose time, it is stated, is not yet expired, and who were omitted in last year's Return. 421, 323 males and 98 females, were committed during the year, in addition to which number three were received from reformatories, and two were re-admitted after desertion, making a total of 1,284, 968 males and 316 females, who were under detention in these schools during the year. Of this number, 182 males and 40 i females were removed or discharged, and four males and four females died, leaving 1,054, 782 males and 272 females, under detention on the 29th September, 1865.

The number of committals during the year exceeded the number in the preceding year by 81, 47 males and 34 females, or nearly onefourth (23.8 per cent.) The number remaining at the end of the year was greater by 199, 145 males and 54 females, or 22.6 per cent., than the number at the end of the preceding year.

Of the total number under detention during the year, five per cent. were under eight years of age at the time of their commitment; 9.5 per cent. were eight and under nine; 15.8 per cent. were nine and under 10; 20.8 per cent. were 10 and under 11; 19.7 per cent. were 11 and under 12; 15.2 per cent. were 12 and under 13; 11.7 per cent. were 13 and under 14; and of 2-3 per cent. the ages are not stated.

The total cost for the children during the year, so far as given in the Returns, was 15,493l. 15s. 4d., exceeding the amount given in the Returns for the preceding year by 6487. Os. 6d. The amount received from parents, as shown in the Returns, was 9851. Os. 8d. In the preceding year it was 3981. 9s. 3d.; in 1863 it was 153l. 5s. 4d. ; in 1862, 7l. 15s. 4d.

The total number of criminal lunatics under detention at the close of the year was 1,033: viz., 795 males, and 237 females.

In the tables for the year ending 29th September, 1865, two new lunatic asylums, viz., the Glamorganshire County Asylum and the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Borough Asylum, are given for the first time, while Bellevue House, at Devizes, and the Medway Union Workhouse, in each of which the single criminal lunatic confined died during the year 1864, are omitted from the list. The number of asylums, hospitals, and licensed houses in which criminal lunatics are under detention, viz., 63, therefore continued the same for 1865 as for the preceding year.

The offences with which the lunatics under detention during the year were charged are stated in the table under 26 different heads; the largest number under one head, 290, or 22-2 per cent. of the whole, being for larceny and petty thefts; 177, or 13.5 per cent., were for murder; 152, or 11.5 per cent., for attempts to murder; 51, or 3.9 per cent., were committed as vagrants; 86, or 6.5 per cent., for want of sureties; of 114, or 8.7 per cent., the offences are not stated; a few cases appear of fraud, forgery, receiving stolen goods, &c.; but of the whole the greater proportion is of a violent character.

whole number, 14.4. Acquitted insane, 238; per cent., 18.2. Insane, committed by justices, 86; per cent., 6.6. Dangerous lunatics, committed by justices, 3; per cent., 0.2. Convicts becoming insane after trial, and removed by order of the Secretary of State, 791; per cent., 60.6. Total, 1,306.

Compared with the preceding year, the proportion per cent. of those found insane was less in 1865 by 0-6; of those acquitted insane it was higher by 0.8; of those committed by justices as insane, and of those committed as dangerous lunatics, it was, in each case, less in 1865 by 0.1; of those becoming insane after trial, three-fifths of the whole number, it was less by 0.6.

PUBLIC DEBT.

An Account of all Additions which have been made to the Annual Charge of the Public Debt by the Interest of any Loan that hath been made of Annuities created in the last ten Years, 1856 to 1865 inclusive; and also showing how the Charge incurred in respect of the same has been provided for. (7th February, 1866.) (10.)

IN 1856, by 19 Vict. c. 5, exchequer bills for 3,000,000l., to be funded 1117. 2s. 2d. capital stock for 100l. money at 31. per cent., capital issued, 3,333,2501. Annual charge, including 4997. 19s. 9d. for management, 100, 1977. 98. d. By 19 Vict. c. 6, 5,000,000l. was raised by loan, 1117. 2s. 2d. stock, 3 per cent. consolidated annuities, 5,555,416l. 13s. 4d. Annual charge, 167,495l. 16s. 3d. By 19 Vict. c. 21, 5,000,000l. raised by loan, 1077. 10s. 7d. stock, 3 per cent., 5,376,458. Annual charge, 162,100l. 4s. 4d.

In 1859, by 9 Geo. IV., the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt applied 2,600,000l. to the purchase of exchequer bills, and were entitled to an amount of stock for the same; whereupon there were created 5,757,8341. 13s. 5d. capital in consolidated annuities, and 2,711,405l. 1s. 8d. in reduced annuities; total, 8,469,2397. 15s. 1d. Annual charge, 255,3471. 10s. 6d.

In 1861, by 23 & 24 Vict. c. 109, s. 3, 2,000,000l. was authorized to be raised for fortifications by terminable annuities, and