The Press. — London, England, 1857-06-06 00:00:00

546 and in lieu of those charges, as made down to the year 1848; the following grants have since been substituted : 1856. General Superintendence 16,783 Government Prisons and Convict Establish. ments at Home Maintenance of Prisoners in County Gaols and Bethlehem Hospitals Expenses of Transportation 25,48.5 Convict Establishments in the Colonies X 906,374 So that the positive increase on this charge, contrasting Convict Expenditure of 1848 with 1858, stands at the annual sum of 428,843?. ! But the relative increase is infinitely greater, for the expenditure has gone on in a double ratio. We are not only to recollect that there has been an increase since 1848, but we must observe that there was decrease prior to that year. For example, the Convict Expenditure for New South \Vales and Van Diemen's Land stood thus :- 1844 1845 1846 1847 There the expenditure fell within four years at a decrease of 100,0001. Now look at the increasing expenditure upon our convict estab lishments at home:- 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 A Treasury subordinate, with the habitual superciliousness of his caste, might exclaim, Well, but the convict establishments in the " colonies have been decreasing." To which we reply that the returns prove exactly the reverse. For example, the returns for convict establishments in {the colonies (chargeable to Miscellaneous Estimates) stand thus : 1849 1850 1801 X 013,0 8 .4 Contrast these items with the charges under the same head for the last three years :- 1851 18.55 18.)6 £926,928 Thus, while there was a decrease in the Convict Expenditure prior to IS-19, there has been an enormous increase in the Convict Expenditure, both at home and in the colonies, since that year. But now let us advance to a higher intellec tual atmosphere than that of mere statistics. Let us ascend from numerical to moral calcu lations ; let us change the consideration of this most important theme from mere money, and look upon it from the point of public morals. Whig orators and writers, when engaged in casting ridicule on their adversaries, are fond of recurring to the illustration of "an ingenious foreigner " visiting our shores, and rhetorically making the distinguished stranger utter exclamations of philosophical surprise. We shall here suppose a continental educe tioninonger, of the best Berlin pattern, taking up these returns, and with the profound look of a German commentator he would say " that " the English people are not versed in social " psychology ;" and, falling back on philoso phical nomenclature, darkening the air with ponderous " dictionary words," the " intelli gent foreigner " might deliver a prelection, of which the purport would be that "if the Eng " lish people were to spend their money on " eduzation, they would have to pay less " for their convicts ;" and he would deliver a series of showy generalisations, which might captivate the minds of crude and theoretical Whigs. But, unfortunately for the soundness of the theory which would make the expenditure on convicts decrease in proportion to the public money invested in public education, it appears that we have been spending the money on that head in the following rate : m. Co th th he THE PRESS. Public Education, Great Britain. 18S 1549 125,000 1550 125,000 1851 1852 162,000 1533 260,000 1854 263,000 1855 396,921 1850 451,213 We entreat of our readers to observe these figures. In 1838, " Public Education, Great Britain," stood at 30,0001. In 1846 it was 100,0001., and ten years afterwards, in 1856, it stands at 451,213/. So much for " Great Britain ;" and " Public Education, Ireland," shows also an extra ordinary increase. In 1816 the charges under " Miscellaneous Estimates " for " Edu cation, Ireland," were 85,0001., and in 1.856 the item stands at 297,6411.! The benefit of that expenditure in Ireland has gone almost exclusively to the Roman Catholics. The in crease in " Education, Ireland," for the last five years is thus recorded 1852 1853 1854 1855 1850 Or to put it in a still more striking light, we ask our readers to look at these figures sup plied by the return : 1816. Public Education, England £loo,ooo " Ireland #!18,5,000 1850. Public Education, England " Ireland £678,854 After ten years there has been an annual in crease of 493,8541. on education fur England and Ireland. Ten years ago we spent on convicts (1846) the sum of 416,7021., and in 1856 we spend on them 906,374 Z., being an annual increase of 489,6721. Let us contrast the rival increases:— Increase on Education since 1846 .... £493,854 41 " Convicts II 14 489,672 So that there is almost a numerical equation between our increase on convicts and edu cation, the double increase under the head of " Law and Justice " standing at 983,5261. So much for the philosophy of a Whig theory monger or his continental friend " the " intelligent foreigner " ! To conclude for to-day. Some years since, during the agricultural depression, " the resources of the country " were investigated, and scientific pretenders of every degree addressed the public, re commending their favourite nostrums. Amongst other things the public was told that the mountain-lands of Great Britain could be cultivated up to the summit, and it was hinted that with " self-reliance " and " agricultural energy " the arable acreage of the country could be increased indefinitely. Chemical analyses of various soils and strata were produced, and " professors " became eloquent on " resources." Their hints were taken. Farmers and proprie tors did in some places grow cereal crops on lands of high elevation. Spring came, and the green wheat sprouted forth at most picturesque altitudes. Summer followed, and the wheat was in ear. Autumn came, but the crops did not ripen. The yield of wheat was miserably small, and the speculation failed, because practice showed that "want of temperature" had been omitted by the learned professors who had misled so many exneramentalists. Have not the flashy Whig philanthropists made similar mistakes when they have applied such energy, time, and money, not to the children of the virtuous poor, or to the honest and industrious classes, but to case-hardened criminals? Have they not been trying to reclaim the sterile, and to improve the in tractable? In surveying the result of their labours we are made to thing of RABELAIS and the description of Queen Whim's officers— " How they sheared asses, and thus got long " fleece wool; and how they taught cows to " dance, and did not lose their fiddling ; and " how out of nothing they made great things, " and made great things return to nothing." SATURDAY, Lord MALMESBURY accused Sir BENJAMIN HALL of expenditure on " fanciful objects," and Lord J. RUSSELL denounced the "frightful increase" in Miscellaneous Estimates. Lord MALMESBURY gave the right hint to the T.,egj s . lature ; the increase is the more " frightful" because it is too purely "fanciful" in its aims, s ßA of N t N ho U C A i T vi T l O S N erv Q ic U e E co S n T s l .t O it N ut . e aTni Ho H ldg E raien S va U an P ac SUPERANNUATION story. For some years, in defiance of opposition, and in the face of discouragement, this most laborious and useful body has endeavoured to familiarise the public mind with the history of its hard. ships and its wrongs. This was all that was needed in its behalf. Once let the ignorance which prevailed on the subject be cleared away—once let the shroud of mystery in which it had been enveloped by the wilful neglect of successive Governments be removed—and it became a matter of certainty that it would be relieved of its unjust and grievous burdens. The Civil servants of the Crown, therefore, strong in this assurance, required only an honest and a rigid investigation of their claims to insure their equitable recognition at the hands of the nation. The discussion they challenged, the inquiry they induced, has been prolonged, elaborate, and, it is to be hoped, complete. For our own part, we con sider that the question was ripe for treatment long since. With characteristic indolence and dread of responsibility, Lord PALMERSTON, after introducing through his Chancellor of the Exchequer two absurd measures which could not have terminated the controversy, because they continued the wrong, fell back upon the old resource of an incapable Minister, and re ferred the difficulty to a special tribunal dig nified with the title of a Royal Commission. The facts which were amassed before it have long been known—the evidence it collected has been previously taken and tried. Delay, there fore, was unnecessary, had the Minister been active and competent. Fortunately, however, for the plaintiffs in this suit, and doubtless unfortunately for the Government, the labours of the jury are closed, and the verdict has been given. A crisis has consequently arrived, a competent and effective interposition of the Legislature has become an imperative necessity, and we re joice to see that Sir EDWARD LYTTON last night gave notice of shortly putting a question to the Government, as to their intentions with respect to the Report of their Commissioners. It is /tot to be expected that the general reader will wade through the dry materials of a ponderous Blue-book in search of the kernel it somewhere or other, and somehow or other, contains. It is the result in which the majo rity of people feel an interest. That result may be briefly communicated. It was in 1834 that the Bill was passed which sub jected the Civil servants to an annual de duction, as a contribution towards a retiring allowance. All who were appointed previous to 18:29 escaped the impost, their pensions continuing on the same scale as before ; whilst those whose official connection commenced subsequent to 1829 were charged with a tax of five per cent. on incomes of 1001. a year, and two and a half per cent. upon those beneath that sum. But the superior advan tages of the first did not terminate with their exemption from the new impost, for their younger brethren not only had to pay for the privilege of retirement at some patriarchal age through the entire period of their service, but had to pay for it with the prospect of a more reduced and less liberal provision. It might have been perceived in the infancy of this iniquitous enactment that it could not operate with anything approximating to fairness. say nothing here upon the principle of saddling the Civil servants with a burden at all, with a view to their resignation when far down the hill of life. That point we may have another opportunity of discussing. But, whether some arrangement of the kind be justifiable or not, it is certain that the contribution levied ought to be proportionate to the benefits it 1 . 8 in tended to convey. If the State is of ()puce