The committee have reason to believe that a farm-house and a sufficient quantity of land might be obtained within two miles of Exeter for a rent of about 50%. a year, with the power of increasing the building and the quantity of land in the event of the increase of the Institution.

They have ascertained also that the services of a schoolmaster and his wife, who would act as the matron of the Establishment, may be obtained for about 1001. a year more; and they consider that the assistance of a bailiff, and of such labourers as may be required, may be had at an expense not exceeding 50., as they believe that some contributions towards the salary of an agricultural instructor might be obtained from the Education Committee of the Privy Council. Looking, therefore, to the Government payment of five shillings a week for each inmate, and to the value of the productive labour of the boys, the committee are of opinion that a subscription of from 2001. to 3001. a year, with a very moderate outlay in the first instance for stock and implements, may be regarded as sufficient for the maintenance of a moderate establishment. They have the gratification of adding, that this view having been mentioned to a few friends, subscriptions to the amount of more than 1007. per annum have already been promised for a period of five years, and there can be little doubt that if the scheme is approved by the meeting, and authority given to the committee to carry it into effect, the requisite amount will soon be raised.

The committee have to report that the proposal to establish a Reformatory Institution has been received in a manner which encourages them to hope for decided success, and although many persons have abstained from contributing to it until they should be aware of the precise nature of the plan, a favourable disposition towards it has been evinced in many quarters, and it is probable that a more systematic canvass than has yet been attempted will be productive of considerable funds.

The committee of the Refuge for Discharged Prisoners have in their hands a sum of about 9001.; a further sum of 2871. had also been promised to them for building purposes before the public meeting of the 2nd October; and since that time about 1,6007. has been subscribed for the enlarged scheme proposed at the meeting. Thus, about 2,8007. may be regarded as the amount of the capital at present raised for the purpose of the two Institutions.

It is the opinion of the committee that the sums thus collected should be united in one account, and invested in the names of trustees, who should apply one half of the interest to the maintenance of the Refuge, and the other half to that of the Farm School, so long as the two establishments are kept separate.

The annual subscriptions to the Refuge will of course be applied to the exclusive support of that branch of the Institution, which should continue to be managed as hitherto by an executive committee chosen by the subscribers. The special subscription which has been opened for the support of tha Farm School should in like manner be applied to the exclusive use of that establishment; and an executive committee should be elected by the subscribers to that

fund for the management of the Farm School. The joint committees appointed at the public meeting of the 2nd October should be re-appointed, and should be constituted guardians of the funds contributed for the general purposes of the whole Institution, including both the Refuge and the Farm School. No part of these funds should be withdrawn from investment, or applied to any purpose whatever except by the directions of the joint committees, and with the assent of the subscribers to both parts of the institution.

This plan has been submitted to a general meeting of the subscribers to the Refuge, and has been accepted by them.

The joint committees should continue to use their best endeavours to obtain an amount of subscriptions sufficient for the establishment and maintenance of an Institution likely to be adequate to the wants of the western district, and should direct their attention to the possibility of enlisting the sympathies of the neighbouring county of Cornwall in the undertaking, and obtaining assistance from thence, as well as from Devon. It is particularly desirable that an appeal for aid should be made to the Council for the Duchy of Cornwall."

We take this extract from Woolmer's Exeter Gazette, of Saturday, January 13, which in addition to an elaborate report of the meeting, contains a most able editorial article upon the Reformatory question.

At the Lancaster Quarter Sessions, held Monday, January 1st, The Right Hon. M. T. Baines addressed the jury at considerable length, urging upon them the great importance of adopting the Reformatory principle. He said:"The subject is one by no means new to me. In the earlier part of my life I had much experience in the administration of the criminal law; and very recently, I have had the honour of presiding as Chairman over a Select Committee of the House of Commons, by whom this whole question was very fully and minutely investigated. Upon several points my mind has arrived at the clearest conviction. First, that the state of our juvenile criminal population is a social evil of the most dangerous character; secondly, that our past course of legislation, with reference to the treatment of such criminals, has been wrong in principle; and thirdly, that we may hope with confidence for very different results, if we are prepared to adopt a different system."

Mr Baines also referred to the absurdity of short imprisonments when reformation was contemplated, and expressed his entire approval of the recognition made by the YOUTHFUL OFFENDERS' ACT, of that principle, the utility of which was first proclaimed to the country by Mr Frederick Hill-PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY.

A very powerful editorial article, commenting on Mr. Baines' address, and in support of Reformatories, appeared in The Lancaster Guardian of January 6th.

In The Midland Counties Herald, of Thursday, January 18th, we find the following satisfactory paragraph :

"THE HULL MAGISTRATES AND REFORMATORY SCHOOLS. The subject of Reformatory Schools has been before the magistrates of Hull for some time past; and at a special meeting of the body, held on Wednesday last, the following resolution was past That the Justices of Hull having been long convinced of the great value of Reformatory Schools, are of opinion that the establishment of an institution of that kind in Hull, as soon as practicable, would be attended with the best results. That a committee be now appointed to take into consideration and report upon the most effectual steps to be taken, with the view to effecting the establishment of a Refor. matory school in Hull.'

Whilst Judges and Magistrates are expressing their full concurrence in the Reformatory principle, the Corporation of Liverpool have, with a wisdom worthy of those who should govern so great a population, called a special meeting to consider the question, and on Monday, January 1st, they confirmed a vote of £2,000 for the establishment and support of two Reformatories; one to be on land, where the inmates will be trained to agricultural pursuits, and trades; the other, for boys only, in a hulk on the river, where they will be trained as sailors, and where Mr Recorder Hill's plan can be most appropriately adopted.

In moving the allocation of this money, Mr T. D. Anderson said

"It was a well-known fact to those who had studied the subject, that the great majority of adult criminals had commenced their career of crime as juveniles. (Hear, hear.) A learned judge had stated upon the bench as the result of his experience, that he had seldom or never met with any adult criminal who had not commenced his career under the age of twenty. There were several corroborations of this fact to be had from the annual reports of that excellent institution, the London Reformatory for adult male criminals, in which it was stated that out of 100 criminals to which he believed the institution was limited at a time, 82 had commenced their crimes under the age of fifteen. (Hear, hear.) He would not trouble the council with statistics upon this point, although he could give a great deal of evidence in corroboration of it, but he did not suppose it would be disputed, and therefore he would not tire the council with dry details upon it. With regard to the sort of reformatory to be established, the committee recommended that it should be adapted for the training of juveniles in agricultural and

other pursuits on land; and that a hulk should be provided in the river into which these boys who were inclined to go to sea or to be trained as sailors might be drafted. The committee felt that the latter would prove a most beneficial and most useful part of the reformatory system. (Hear, hear.) He might here state that the shipowners' association last year, in answer to a question put to them by the magistrates, as to whether they thought the shipowners of the town would be inclined to take the boys-(could he call them tainted with crime?-he thought he could hardly do so)-out of the hulk as apprentices into their ships, stated as their opinion that after they had undergone a certain course of discipline and training, they believed the shipowners of the town would be quite ready to take boys from the hulk. The committee feel that it was essential that the reformatory should be at such a distance from the town as to prevent the juveniles from all intercourse with their old associates; and they also recommended that it should be commenced upon a moderate scale, but upon such a plan as could be extended at a future time. He would therefore only ask the council at the time to make the same grant as they did before, 1,700., and an additional amount of 3004, making the whole amount 2,0002. He did not suppose there was a member of the council who would wish to treat this subject in the lowest point of view, namely, as a finance question, although it would not be difficult to show the great advantages that would result from it even in that respect. (Hear, hear.) But he believed that every member of the council would take a much higher view of the question, and look to its moral, social, and religious aspect-feeling it to be their duty, as guardians of the town, to do something for the masses of neglected juveniles around them. As an instance, however, of the saving which such an establishment might produce to the town, independent of the much higher good and benefit, they might look at the case which occurred some months ago, of a young man about 19 years of age, who was convicted at the assizes of November twelvemonths of manslaughter, for stabbing a policeman. He had heen convicted 15 times before he was last convicted. He had been led away by evil companions, and he stated himself he knew the time when he might have been saved, if he had had only the moral courage to say 'no' to his tempters, but he was led away by his evil companions, and was at last transported. Now, it was computed that every convict who was transported from the country cost the country 150/." ..

"Mr. Bramley Moore said, having taken a warm interest in the subject some years ago, and brought it before the council himself, as far as the establishment of a hulk was concerned, he could not allow the present opportunity to pass by without expressing his satisfaction that the thing was now going to be tried, however imperfectly it might be done. Although some defects might arise when the experiment was commenced, the committee would very soon have an opportunity of improving their system. His own opinion was very strongly in favour of a hulk, because he was perfectly satisfied, if they could get boys on board a hulk, and teach

them seamanship, and make sailors of them, they would not have a boy capable of going to sea remaining on board that vessel for more than six months; and they would have the advantage not only given them of the reformation so desirable to make them good citizens and useful members of society, but they would, at the same time, disperse them all over the world, where they would naturally get inculcated with habits of industry, so that they would never be seen again as criminals in the sessions-house of Liverpool. (Hear.) Therefore, he had very great faith in the establishment of a hulk. It would be within the remembrance of many in that room, that eight or nine years ago, he brought the subject forward at the council, but at that time, he was sorry to say, he failed. He bad no doubt, that if the project had been carried out, a great many who were now cumbersome and expensive to the corporation and the public, would have been useful members of society; and very likely many of them serving their country where they were very much needed at the present moment. (Hear, hear.) To detain them above two years he was quite sure, would be quite unnecessary, and a thing which, in fact, would seldom arise. They all knew by experience of the training of boys at Greenwich, that long before the boys were fit to go, there were a great number of applicants ready to take them. With regard to the girls, the object could only be carried out on shore, through the instrumentality of some building, but he had great doubts of the advantage of keeping the boys on shore. (Hear, hear.) A hulk would be really the most useful by far, as regarded the male portion of those sought to be reclaimed. The whole system of their gaol establishments was altogether, in his opinion, upon a wrong basis. (Hear, hear.) Instead of reforming offenders, and letting them come out, after a time, useful members of society, capable of gaining an honest livelihood, the operation was quite the reverse. (Hear, hear.) They were just taken in for a time, and then turned out adrift without a shilling in their pockets! and the first thing they did, was to go and commit some robbery. We did not take advantage of the experience of other countries, where they all knew that matGaols in other countries, ters were very differently carried out. were reformatories. He had the satisfaction of visiting a number of gaols during last autumn, and there was one with which he was particularly struck in Canada, where there were several hundred prisoners; and on going through the different compartments of the gaol, he was struck with amazement when he saw the manner in which it was conducted. Instead of men picking oakum-a farce for hard labour-he found them in the different apartments carrying on their different trades. In one room, there were about 100 men making chairs and tables; and all working with as much alacrity and diligence, as if they were in a private shop. In another department there were whitesmiths, locksmiths, and different other trades, all actively engaged. So far from their being burthens to the state, they were realising a large profit, and making a fortune for the man who farmed their services at the gaol. The experiment had been most successful, and the farming of the whole of these men at the gaol was