gaols of the Province as being dangerous to be at large, such person may be removed to an asylum upon being certified to be insane by two qualified medical practitioners and the county judge.

Third. If a person be charged with the commission of some offence, and upon being arraigned be acquitted by a jury upon the ground of insanity, the certificate of the court to that effect will enable the prisoner to be sent to an asylum.

Like the asylums for the insane, the two institutions for the education of the deaf and dumb, and of the blind, are both maintained and controlled by the Government; the counties of the Province contributing nothing towards their support. The former has a capacity for two hundred and fifty deaf-mute and the latter for one hundred and seventy-five blind pupils, about which numbers are now under instruction. Board and education in the institutions are free to all deaf and dumb and blind persons between the ages of seven and twenty-one, and indigent orphans are in addition clothed and maintained at the expense of the Province. The period of instruction is seven years, which may, in special cases, be extended. Besides a literary education, the male youths in the institution for the deaf and dumb are taught the trades of shoemaking, carpentering, and cabinet-making, as well as farming and gardening; while the females are taught dress-making, general sewing and house work in all its details. At the Institution for the Blind, the male pupils, in addition to receiving literary and musical instruction, are taught basket and wicker-work and cane-seating, and the females the use of sewing and knitting machines, hand-sewing and knitting, and general fancy work.

Coming now to the last branch of work, namely, hospitals for the treatment of bodily diseases, refuges for the poor, orphanages, etc., I may state that only within the last six years has this class of institutions been subject to government supervision and inspection. Before that time the Legislature annually voted funds in aid of their maintenance, but exercised little or no supervision over the administration of their affairs, leaving that in the hands of the local boards of management. The Parliamentary grants in aid of these charities were not then based either upon the work performed, or upon the number of inmates in the respective institutions, but an arbitrary sum was voted to each. Moreover, many of the structures used were quite unfitted for the purposes of the charities, and in some instances the administration of affairs was of the most lax

character, and no proper or uniform method of obtaining tabulated statistical information was employed. To overcome these defects an act was passed in 1874 to regulate the public aid to hospitals and charitable institutions, and to provide for their governmental supervision and inspection. Under the provisions of this act a certain fixed sum per day is paid by the Province for the maintenance of each patient or person admitted, and in order to stimulate and encourage private and municipal subscriptions to these charities, the Province gives, in addition to this fixed allowance, a further sum per day for each inmate, equal in the aggregate to one-fourth of the money received from all other sources than Provincial aid. The workings of this Charity Aid Act have produced the most satisfactory results. New and well arranged hospitals have been erected and old ones reconstructed, private subscriptions have been largely augmented, and greatly increased efficiency in management has been obtained in nearly every institution subject to its provisions.

Permit me now to direct the attention of the Conference to a few of what I conceive to be the strongest points in the system I have been endeavoring to outline. I place first that which is common to the public service throughout Great Britain and her dependencies; namely, the permanent appointment, or, to use the ordinary term, the appointment during good behavior, of all officers and employés connected with the service. I believe this to be an essential requisite to the faithful and effective performance of official duty, but in no branch of the public service is it so vitally important as in that relating to asylums, prisons and public charities. As mentioned in a former part of this paper, the care and treatment of the dependent and offending classes is a work requiring the most delicate and careful management, the detailed routine of which, apart from the various branches requiring professional skill, can only be acquired by close observation and matured experience. Given, on the part of an officer, the requisite ability, combined with a conscientious determination to perform his duty faithfully, and every year's service and experience adds to his value as a public servant. In this way permanency of tenure constitutes a bond between the State and the official, and in the compact I have no hesitation in saying that the State is the decided gainer.

Another feature of almost equal importance relates to the supervision and inspection of the public institutions. Direct and sufficient authority is vested in the Government Inspector to deal

promptly with all defects, irregularities and troubles as they arise, no matter whether the defects are of a structural, administrative or disciplinary character. Other methods of inspection may be equally and perhaps more effective, but unless inspectors, commissioners, boards of directors, or other officials or bodies of a like character, are, in addition to their inspectorial and recommendatory powers, clothed with sufficient executive authority to remedy defects and supply deficiencies, it appears to me that the prime requisite of a system is wanting.

The third point I would refer to is the direct association of a member of the Government in the administration of, and control over, the affairs of all the institutions comprised in the system. Only through this executive association of a cabinet minister, which, under a responsible form of government, is the direct authority of the people, could such ample powers be delegated to the Government Inspector, - powers which at once stamp his acts and instructions with the weight and authority of a governmental and legislative edict.

The fourth and last point to which I would direct the attention of the Conference is, the cost of maintaining the public institutions under the Ontario system. The charge upon the treasury of the Province during the fiscal year ending on the 30th September last, for the maintenance of such of these institutions as are exclusively owned and managed by government, together with the aid granted to hospitals and charitable institutions, was as follows, namely:

$286,894 37

Total cost of maintaining asylums . .

Institution for the deaf and dumb, Belleville . $38,589 50

A critical analysis of these figures will, in my opinion, show that the strictest economy, consistent with efficient management, is observed in the administration of the affairs of the public institutions embraced in the system; which is largely due to the controlling supervision exercised by the inspector's department over all purchases of and contracts for supplies. The daily average population of the asylums was two thousand two hundred and eight (2,208), thus making the weekly cost per patient equal to two dollars and forty-eight cents ($2.48). The daily average attendance of pupils at the institution for the deaf and dumb was two hundred and fifteen (215), and the annual cost per pupil was one hundred and seventy-nine dollars and forty cents ($179.40); and at the institution for the blind, the daily average number in residence was one hundred and sixty-nine (169), and the annual cost per head was one hundred and seventy-four dollars and twenty cents ($174.20). In the central prison the daily average number in custody was three hundred and twenty-nine, and the daily cost for food per prisoner was fourteen cents (14c.), and for clothing, salaries, wages and all other expenses, was twenty-five cents per prisoner, or a total of thirty-nine cents (39c.) for each prisoner. In the reformatory for boys, the daily average population was two hundred and eight (208), and the annual cost per head was one hundred and thirty-six dollars twenty-four cents ($136.24). The daily cost of dietaries in the common gaols was ten and a half cents (104c.) per prisoner, and of clothing, salaries and wages, and all other expenses was thirty seven and a half cents (371⁄2c.) per day, or a total of forty-eight cents (48c.) per day.

No portion of the expenditure of maintaining the government is borne by the counties, but an annual revenue of about thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000) is received from paying patients. I may here state that the cost of asylum maintenance in Ontario is very largely reduced by the products of the farms and gardens attached to the asylums and cultivated by the inmates. During the past year over thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) worth of products

were taken from the asylum lands, which caused a direct reduction in expenditure to that amount.

I have thus endeavored to give, within the compass of such a paper, an outline of the Charitable, Reformatory and Prison System of the Province of Ontario, and the result of its workings. That the Province is fully alive to the importance of the interests involved in the system, is shown by the fact that, during the past decade, she has founded and erected, at an expense of nearly two and a half million dollars, three hospitals for the insane, an asylum for idiots, two institutions for the deaf and dumb and the blind, a central or intermediate prison, a reformatory for women and a refuge for girls.

And now, in conclusion, I desire to express to the members of the Conference the pleasure it gives me to be present at this convention, and to meet so many co-laborers in a work which knows no political or geographical boundaries, but in which all can meet without regard to nation or creed upon the broad platform of common humanity.

NOTE. The Conference heard the clear and practical statement of Mr. Langmuir with great interest, and only the lack of time prevented a full discussion following. The President (Mr. SANBORN), and the pro tempore President (Mr. LORD), both expressed to the delegate from Ontario their appreciation of his contribution to the Proceedings of the Conference, and the hope that he would consider himself a member of it in future years. The heading of this Report and the remarks of Mr. Lord mention Canada, which strictly should be Ontario; but the system in the other Provinces of Canada is much the same.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON CRIMINAL LAW.

At the session of Thursday evening, July 1, the President said: The first business this evening is a report to be made for the Committee on Criminal Law and its Administration, which consists of several gentlemen, all of whom are lawyers except myself, Prof. Dwight, of New York, being chairman. In his absence I present the report, which will be followed by a paper by Dr. Yeamans, of Detroit:

I. REPORT ON TRAMP LAWS AND INDETERMINATE
SENTENCES.

When Prof. Dwight, the chairman of our Committee, ascertained some months ago that his work in New York would prevent his attendance at this meeting, he desired the undersigned to represent