The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-25 00:00:00

SCOTCH PRISONS.

The report of the Selttcfte
nugn table
furCommitteeyears osnubsPeciriuseounts
to
appendedgeter wiitthapthpeeamrsintuhteast
prisonto charges levied upon
passing of the Prison Act of 1839, was 23,9201., and
otthhf ee evidence.
average
Scotlandve eortacgi
Scotch
ea
bs au
nbr
nFge
nehr been r published,dauramount
oi
the
the amount for the three years previous to the passing
giving an average annual
increase since the passing of -the Act of 7,2641. The
of the said Act, 16,6561., thus
average annual prison charges on counties in Scotland
amounted during the four years subsequent to the
passing of the Act to 39,367/., and during the
three years previous to the Act to 16,2631., thus ex-
hibiting an average annual increase of 23,1041. The
burghs, amounted during the four years subsequent to the
total average annual charge both for counties and
Act of 1839 to 63,2881., and during the three years pre-
ceding that enactment to 32,919/. The total population
of the Scotch burghs assessed for prison charges
amounts to 962,644, that of the towns and villages to
442,927, and that of the counties and burghs altogether
to 2,620,184, which is the total population of Scotland.
The prison assessment on the inhabitants of the Scotch
burghs and counties, which, under the present system,
if
fmtohue assessmentsnts to 63,2881.
w ane
rneually,would be exactly the same
calculated according to real pro-
perty, the value of which is estimated at 9,481,762 L,
inasmuch as the respective increase and decrease
balance each other to a nicety. The gross increase
would amount to 10,592/., and the gross decrease to
precisely the same sum. Were the rate of assessment
equalised, and the sums levied upon the whole real
property within the counties, including the burghs, the
rate, on an average for the last four years, would be
one penny and seven-twelfths of a penny per pound, or
a little more than three-halfpence per pound. The
Committee, in their report, state that the effect of the
Act 2 and 3. Victoria, cap. 42, has been to increase (as
we have already seen) and in many instances very greatly,
the annual expense connected with prisons beyond what
it was when the whole expense of maintaining the Scotch
prisons was borne by the royal burghs alone. This has
arisen from two causes—lst, the necessity that existed
any districts ;
the intro.'
forand t2hde,
tchree ati on
additional of neexwp e
npsrel sons s
emd
duction of a new and improved system of prison disci-
pline and accommodation. The effect upon the Par-
liamentary burghs has been to impose iponitnliceumbuas
burden to which they were not previously subjected,
willalftbe erecting
be
eucgthi n
g thereconsiderably
the
so do reasonprisons
are diminished,
liquidated.
as
ioduabta
etnd that.o
The landward
na s the expenses thatoi
parts of counties have suffered in a similar manner. After
noticing the complaints of the burghs to this effect the Com-
mittee proceed to express their opinion, that the prac-
tical operation of the Acts already in force in the distri-
bation of the assessment, according to the relative popu-
is most objectionable, from the inequa-
lation of the landward parts of the county and the
burghs within it,
lity of rate which it necessarily produces, not merely
between the burghs and the landward parts of counties,
but between the different and often adjacent burghs
themselves. They adduce several instances in support
of their opinion. This inequality is the more oppres-
sive from its being invariably greater according to the
poverty of the burgh, and because according to the
principle on which the assessment is apportioned, the
rate upon a burgh must increase in proportion to
i:s decay, and the diminution of the value of the pro-
perty within it, if there be not a corresponding decrease
of its population. The Committee acknowledge that
relief has been in some degree afforded by the operation
of recent Acts of Parliament ; " but they would, never-
theless, strongly recommend that some other principle
shoul6 be adapted for the ti tribution of the assessment
bet.veen the landward parts of the counties and the
burghs within them." The minutes of evidence, on
which we have only been enabled to bestow a cursory
perusal, occupy a large portion of the document.

The harvest prospects in the north of England
begin to be very gloomy. The late heavy rains have lodged
the wheat in many districts of Holderness, in parts of North
Lincolnshire, and in whole tracts of level land throughout the
midland counties. • Yesterday the accounts received of the in-
jury done by floods to the growing crops were really disastrous.
—Hull Advertiser.
CRUELTY :OF A SCHOOLNIASTER.—About a week
since a master of a national school, in South Devon, struck a
girl, one of his pupils, a blow which knocked her down, and
then knelt on her, injuring her so much that the surgeon says
that, if she survives, she will never recover from the injuries
she has received. This fellow is, and has been, one of the
parsons' catechism crammers.— Western Times.