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

SCOTCH PRISONS.

The report of the Select Committee on Prisons in
Scotland has been published, together with the minutes
of evidence. From a table appended it appears that
the average annual amount of prison charges levied upon
the Scotch burghs during the four years subsequent to
the passing of the Prison Act of 1839, was 23,9201., and
the amount for the three years previous to the passing
of the said Act, 16,656/, thus giving an average annual
increase since the passing of the Act of 7,2641. The
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 16,263/., thus ex-
hibiting an average annual increase of 23,1041. The
total average annual charge both for counties and
burghs, amounted during the four years subsequent to the
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,
amounts to 63,2881. annually, would be exactly the same
if the assessments were calculated according to real pro-
perty, the value of which is estimated at 9,481,7621.,
inasmuch as the respective increase and decrease
balance each other to a nicety. The gross increase
would amount to 10,5921., 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 that.' 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-Ist, the necessity that existed
for the creation of new prisons in many districts ;
and 2d, the additional expense occasioned by the intro.
duction of a new and improved system of prison disci-
isnt soon o
the
ea
forces
it
nh
relative e t
he expenses
popu-
lation
distri-
bution
pline and accommodation. The effect upon the .
The landward
Par-
liamentary burghs has been to impose upon them a
burden to which they were not previously subjected,
although there is no reason
didoubtnys thatard pa r tst
produces,honaf to
counties,t imnceurbeulys
parts of counties have suffered in a similar manner. After
considerablywofilelrbeectig
noticing the “onaplaints of the buy•ghs tothis effect the Com-
mittee proceed to express their opinion,. that. the prac-
tical e
prisons
liquidated. s
of the landward pt!rts. of the county and the
burghs within it, is most objectionable, from the inequa-
ticalopoefrathtieonasosfestshme
eAntc,tsacaclorerda
inequality is the more but between the different and often adjacent burghs
themselves. They adduce several instances in support
betweenlitof ratethe burghs and aintdtlae necessarilylati w
oppres-
sive from its being invariably greater according to the
poverty of the burgh, and because. according to the
of their opinion. This .
principle on which the assessment is apportioned, the
rate upon a burgh must increase in proportion to
its 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 adopted for the Ci-tribution of the assessment
between 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, creepy a large portion of the document.

eslsa'n n partsd throughout the of N
The harvest prospects in the nortihofEn England
iTd
begin to be very gloomy. The late heavy rains have lodged
the
Lincolnshire,w heat in
andmany
in
w h districtsole t
tracts
t sHoof ldern
level
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
SCHOOLMASTER.—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.

,~ y ~