The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1866-10-23 00:00:00

FIRST COURT, WILINIZSDAY.
(Before J. FLOTER, Esq., 111. P., Deputy-ChairMan.)

The Court wu opened on Wednesday morning at ten
o'clock. The grand jury having been sworn' and the
proclamation against rice mid immorality read, the
deputy-chairman (Mr. J. FLOTRA, d.r.) delivered the
following

CHARGE TO THB °MAID July.

Gentlemen of the Grand Jury—lt has been the pre:.
lice, I think, of the noble chairman who for some years
past has proxided in this Court of Quarter Sessions (and
whou place I am sorry to say I am this day called to
fill on amount of the state of his lordship's health), to
Gall the attention of the grand fury to any Acts of Pao.
'lament which have been mooed in the previous Session
relating to the civil or criminal business such sa is
tranameted at the Quarter Simeon. of counties. There I.
one statute which was passed M the last Orlon of Puna.
Went, the 29 aod 30 Viet a. 52, which has • socudderable
bearing upon our duties here in conducting the criminal !
business of the county. It lien AM *Mob provides
for the payment of the expenses of prosecutors, and for
the compensation of the Imo of time of witessees in
cases which do sot proceed to trial as commitment
by magistrates, and in which prosecutors and Timm=
are not bouod over to prosecute awl give evidenes before
Courted Quarter Sessions or Autism You are aware '
that by Aosta passed some years ego provision was made
for the payment to promoters and witnesses of their
earls and expanses in oases of felony first of all, and
afterwards he eartaln eases of miademeenour, when
commitments for trial were made out, and they
were carried on to trial before courts of
justice. But previously to the passing of this net, no
such perm was given to magistrates for certify-
ing and ordering the expensee and costs of pro-
secutors and witames in eases not promoting to
triaL That has been provided in the act to which
3 invite your attention. The object of ism doubt is in
the first place sea matter of poetise to those who may
be at the expense and trouble of bringing charges
against uff•nders, and especially for promoting the
administration of jostle, in the country, and also
through thews MAW to ensure offenders being ire.
to justioe- You, in your se,ral parte of then' ..*lit
your p ninon and by the influence whir, -enty, by
naturally and properly amoopt th, ... you etercise
among whom you dwell, hay' -we With whom and
often called upon, I ha, cepportusittee. and are
peirer neighbours in • fin ginabt, to stelae your
whether they • ' eternising a diocretion ea to
may hare Il Shake chatgcsi or not when they
in ove ...roplaints to make against offender; either
co- of loss of property or personal injery, and you
Inform them that if they do make these
!huger, provided they are made km Or, i.e., upon
good and moveable grounds, that then although the
evidence may not be sufficient in the opinion of the
examining magistrate to send the me for trial to
Memo ete amine, yet still they may be oompoweted
for the Imo of time and expanse to which they may have
been put. Therefore, you may advise them on this
point, to promote with them in the administration and
furtherance of jug .e in any such offences or crimes as
those to which I have alluded. There is no other Act
to *high I need call your attention paned in the last
tiesoloo of Parliament, but there was a statute pawed in
the year 18111, to which it will be in the recollection of
'me I have now the honoirof addreseing that their
etthatioa wee invited by the noble chairman who

then presided in this court, Tin, the 21 and 28
Vick c. 47, an Act for amending the laws re-
lating to portal servitude. That statate was a very
Important one. Two of Its main peovisioss are to this
effect—one for increasing the severity of the sentences
of penal 'servitude, and the other ordering that convicts
discharged open what is called "ticket-of-leave" before
the expiration of their sentenesa, should report them-
selves to the chief authorities said the police upon their
going to reside in any pert of the country, and also
requiring them to report themaelves at intervals, I think, i
of one month, while melding in that district. His
lordship, yew may remember, told you that the
providens of that Act, b. ing somewhat of a tentative
and experimental character, because of their
being of a dethription not before known in this 0000t,T,
inasmuch as they provid,cl for police supervision over
prisoners living at large, and of which supervision by
the police, the publie, and the laws of this carantry.were
naturally espy je.lous. His lordship informed you that
capnaiderable apprehension was entertained by persons
competent to form opinion. on such a subject es to the
working of that statute. Now it is gratifying to me
to be able to inform yen upon the very beat authority,
viz., on the one hand, the report of the Inspectors of
Convict Prisons, and upon the other the authority
of a return made to the Boise of Commons in
the last samion of Parliament, that under both
beads in this very important matter the
welkin' of the Act has been very satisfactory. With
regard to the portion of it which applies to an Warmth
In the severity of Noisome of penal servitude, I And
from the reports of the Inspectors of Convict Primes
that whereas in 1863 the sentences of penal servitude
weed upon offenders for their first offences were 1.961,
In 1861—tbe year in which the Act was paesed—there
were 1.990, oopj in the year 1886 the number of fresh
sentences MO UN, showing • diminution of rather
more than 25 per cent. The re-oonvietions in 1863 were
1.641. it 1064 the number was reduced to 570, sod in
1086 it was only 511. Though it would be. perhaps, too
much lousy, and certainly would he wrong be attribute
entirely such reduction to the greater severity of the
sentenees imposed by the legislature under the provisions
of this Act, at any rate the reduction is contemporaneous
with the pluming of the Act, and it may be I think. in
110010 Ine•Bunl, attributed to that origin. In 1865
there were only 12 Illekeille of penal servitude
for life palmed in the whole of this country,
indieating • material reduction In that depart-
ment of serioue crime. There is one other matter
in that statute to which his lordship drew your atten-
tion. via.; the proviaion requiring eonvicts to report
themselves to the chief authorities and the police,
which was looked upon with considerable appre-
hension from the fears entertained by those who
had considered the subject, that it might lead in
some measure to di/fealties anoint in the way of
those convicts obtaining employment. It wax thought
by many that having to report themselves to the police
Ahern would he • stigma ands mark as it were upon the
thevicts liberated altar partial expiration of their sen-
tences and that they would have a &Baulky in providing
themselves with hermit labour. In this ease I am happy
to say the fears of those who entertained them hove not
been realised. This return to which I have adverted is
a very ample return, from, I believe I may say, all the
chief constables in England; and with hardly an excep-
tion, they all speak of there PlY.visions of the An/
working very much to their spitiafeetion, and that no diM•
catty has been found by the convicts, so far as they
know, with regard to their finding employment.
Our very excellent shied constable, Col. Can, reports
from this county, that "four license holders have re-
ported themselves oche to the police, that was at an
early period, and they have had no diScrelty in obtain-
ing employment, and have reported themselves regularly
according to order." In the neighbouring county of
Devon, Mr. Gerald Hamilton reports that "with
three or four menthols the whole of the
license holders sent to that county up to the present
date have been and are now in conatant employment."
The Chief Constable of Somerset says' the license holders
in that county hart exporiseeed an diflioulty in obtain-
ing employment, and their eseduct has been untie-
(theory." In Wilts the Chief Constable says "the
conduct of the liothee holders has been generally good
and they have all *Method einpleranst in this county."
A similar report is given with regard to the county of
Southampton. These are all ne bearing counties, and,
therefore, I have 'sleeted them or mention to you, and I
think you will agree with me in looking upon these reports
as ealealened to give us confidence in the working of the
Ask. It is • question of greet Importance for this
reason : in the year 1851 there were only 1,338 convict.
at large in this country, so far as was known, discharged
by remission of a portion of their sentence or at its
expiration, whereas in 1865 the number of such
persons was 21,0.52. You will see how great the
differenee is from the state of things in former
times when the great bulk of our convicts alter their
sentences of transportation had expired remained in
the colonies. Now, however, a vast number UV here,
and therefore it is of great importance that they should
have the means of obtaining by hornet labour a
livelihood. Theo things are of great interest
to tie as temobers of the great social body, and
therefore, I have not thought it travelling beyond my
duty to bring them under your consideration, and the
more so because when the Act was passed considerable
doubts were entertained ea to it. possible operation.