The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-17 00:00:00

REFORMATORY ESTABLISHMENTS.

WORCESTER, Monday Night.—The Quarter Sessions
for the county of Worcester were opened to-day before
the Right Hon. Sir J. S. Pakington, Bart., M.P., and
an unusually large muster of the magistrates, among
whom were Lord Lyttleton, lord-lieutenant of the
county, Earl Beauchamp, and near 70 other magistrates.
In the course of the county business, a question came
before the court as to the propriety of re-appointing a
committee appointed at the Michaelmas Session last year
to consider the provisions of the act for the better care
and reformation of youthful offenders.
The Right Hon. Chairman said the committee bad no
report to make, but he would avail himself of that op-
portunity of stating the view which he took of this in-
teresting and important subject, which was, that at this
moment it was hardly desirable for the county to
move iu the matter. In the present state of the law, it
was perfectly clear that they must move, if they moved
at all, on the voluntary principle. That plan had been
attempted in some counties, and was now being tried in
the adjacent county of Warwick. This was an experi-
ment in which he felt the deepest interest, but he must
say that he did not feel sanguine of the success of the
voluntary principle when applied t matters of this mag-
nitude ; and, therefore, be thought before they took any
steps themselves, they should watch the result of the
experiment in Warwickshire. They bad collected in War-
wickshire a sum of 1,6001., which was a very large sum
to cell upon any county to contribute by voluntary
benevolence. They had the advantage in Warwick-
shire, . too, of the establishment of a r, formatory school
at Saltley, near Birmingham ; but ho understood
there was a difference of opinion existing as to whe-
ther they should connect themselves with the Ut-
ley esta'Aishinent, or set up another more centrally
situated. He was not aware whether the large
sum of 1,6001., which had been contributed inWarwick-
shire, would be sufficient for the purpose, but he had
been told by some personal friends that irrespective of
the cost of the establishment of a reformatory, the sum
granted by the Government was not enough by 71. per
head for the support of the prisoners confined in these
establishments. Therefore private benevolence would
have to be taxed, not only for the amount necessary for
starting the institution, but also to the extent of 71,
per head annually for maintenence. It would also be
a question for consideration whether they might not
take advantage of the establishment of reformatory
schools in adjacent counties for sending their offenders
to. He was very anxious to see these establishments
carried out; and there was one remarkable case for trial
at these sessicns which showed the necessity for such
establishments. He alluded to the case of a boy aged
11 years, who was charged with housebreaking, and
who had before the alleged offence been a boy of
very abandoned habits. The right hon. baronet in cone
elusion repeated his doubts cf the success of the volun-
tary system ; and before he was prepared to originate a
movement in the county for the establishment of a refor-
matory, he was disposed to wait the result of the efforts
made in other counties.
Rev. T. PEARSON observed that Worcestershire was
one of the counties of England that had no ref: rmd tpooesYi
He dwelt on the importance of checking early
atidooepttiongersimome,etshaiiodgbeofwathsecoonovrtin,
at convinced of thetn a
necessity of
tthhaetetohuentryighwtouhlodn.tackbeniorpmtahneamnodttethide expressedlord-lieutenant of
Rev. J. PEARSON expressedsimilar desire to that of
to hear what
a
his father, the last speaker. Heregretted
had fallen from the right bon. chaietncdo,nsiddered the ye-
reformatory us ution for the
he would originate
chairman, still hoped
he thought
luntary principle the
county. No doubt tbbaeooGto
institution
fvoerr fitmh the n
•
Lord LYTTELTON (lord-lieutenant)said he did not wish
to throw any discouragement on what had been done in
the Government was in the right.
Warwickshire, but he was bound to Say that he could not
quite collect, from what passed at the recent meeting
there, what was intended to be done. The Saltley in-
stitution bad been in existence some time, and the pro-
position was to enlarge the existing building there and
make it a county institution. That proposition he un-
derstood bad been acquiesced in on the part of the whole
of the magistracy of the county, but he heard the other
day that doubts had arisen in the minds of some of the
magistrates, and that the whole question was thrown
open now, whether they should have a new establish-
ment in the centre of the county, or whether they should
enlarge that at Saltley. On the general question he
would say that he was very anxious that something should
be done, but he was very much of opinion that there
woul 1 be no great value in the reappointment of the com-
mittee at these vssioes, because that court had no poweF
to deal with the rates for supporting an institution ; and
as there was in many counties in England something
doing by private efforts, he thought that would induce
Parliament to leave it to private efforts, and not to
give power to the Quarter Sessions to deal with the
county rates in support of these establishments. But if
any movement
should be made in the county he should
be happy to join it. He believed the sum paid by the
n
Government still left a considerable sum
it wasproposed to
to support these institutions. He referredt
to the Wiltsp
be made
meeting lately held, at which estab-
lish an institution on the model of the one set on foot at
Hardwicke, near Gloucester, by Mr. Barwick Baker,
and one or two other magistrates, and which he believed
was nearly self-supporting. _
Aftt•r a short conversation the matter dropped. The
committee was not reappointed.

Mt:mum—The crew of the ship Allerton, of Sunder.
land, out nine days from Liverpool, bound for Madras,
mutinied and refused to work the ship, because she was
so leaky. The captain was consequently oblige dto get
a pilot crew to take her into Queenstown.
THE SEPTEMBER A.uSTRALIA.N MAILE.—The celebrated
clipper ship Rea Jacket, Captain M. M. Millward, be-
longing to the White Star line of Australian packets,
and which sailed from the Mersey with the English mails
of the 20th September, was spoken on the 28th ult., seven
days out, in latitude 38.50 north, longitude 20.15 west,
by the Le Quellec, arrived at Bordeaux. This is a very
favourable outset, and augurs a capital voyage.