Morning journal and courier., 1880-02-20
Legislative Notes.

 The fsvster Tnteresf-Repeal of Town JurIsdictiom RecOmmemded-TheB Hills l
 by Judge Pardee for Social Evils l
 Street Walkers, IncOrrigibles, Dis
 reputable Houses, etc.-Eemale Suf-
 frage-Other Matters
 The report of the Oyster Commission was submitted to the Senate yesterday morning. The passage of bill for the appointment of Oyster Commissioners, the management of the oyster grounds and the regulation of the oys- ter culture was recommended. The commfs- sion, from abundant testimony taken on the sub iect. report that most of the available grounds for the planting of oysters, other than natural beds. has already been designated and occu- pied. The great want was uniform and sufa cient laws. Now much was conflicting. There was no system. It was the universal opinion of those who appeared before the commission that the State ought to have sole control of these fisheries. In this opinion the com- mission join and recommend the repeal of all laws giving the towns jurisdiction in such matters.
 It has seemed wise to the commission that the charge of these fisheries should be en- trusted to State commissioners to be appointed for that purpose.
 Section 1 of the bill provides that the State shall have exclusive jurisdiction and authority over the shell fisheries in this State. Section provides that the navigable waters of this State, and the counties containing and border ing on the same, shall be divided into three districts-Fairfeld county and the waters ad- jacent thereto, New Haven county and the waters adjacent thereto, and Middlesex and New London counties and the waters adjacent thereto. Sections 3, 4, 5, and provide for granting leases of the oyster beds by the com- missioners. Sections and provide for fees of the commissioners and the collections of rents by them.
 | Judge Pardee advocated his four bills be- fore the judiciary Wednesday. As regards the bill relative to disorderly houses he held : that the present law was defective, because it 1 provided only for the punishment of persons keeping house of ill fame or one that by reason of the fact that it annoyed neighbors was disorderly house. He thought s'bawdy house" and ''house of as- signation" should be added to the present law to make it effective, because 8 house of i'll fame was not broad enough and required the house in order to make it effective. Again, Q bad house might not annoy neighbors because it might be some ways from any other house, and yet it ought to be reached by the law.
 The next bill was the one which allowed any | officer to arrest any woman found walking alone on the streets, or in the public parks after 10 o'clock at night, who was known or | thought by them to be an habitual walker and l frequenter of the streets. He had it from good authority, he said, that there are now in l New Haven sixteen girls all minors, who are e7aciepte as the result of this pernicious habit, | La ,of vryfrI sixteen years of age who were in the same condition, as the result of the same practice. | Two young girls who should have appeared in short dresses were brought before him some l time ago, and these he neglected, perhaps l wrongfully, to send to the Industrial School
 both of whom were badly diseased, as a result
 of the same practice. He thought the pro- posed law carefully guarded in it's phraseology | so as to apply only to those women who were l habitually practicers of this ofense, and it would not affect such ladies as were out dur | ing the evening to make call, for the purpose l of walking in the fresh air or going to or from l a concert or entertainment.
 | Judge Pardee being asked, said he had no | idea the bill would cause any difficulty to re- 1 spectable women, for it instructed officers to arrest only habitual street walkers. Should a | mistake be made Q civil action for damages 1 would lie.
 The next bill W wSs the companion bill, which provides the punishment of minors of both sexes who are habitual loiterers about the streets after 10 o'clock at night. These could not be reached by existing laws. Any such 'habitual loiterer or disorderly child may be arrested. This bill also provides for the pun l ishment of the parents of such lettering children. and this provision was introduced | because the State cannot act as parent to all the children whose parents cannot or will not control them. The bill applied to young men hanging about saloons, or variety theatres picking up ''butts," begging for checks, or | otherwise making themselves nuisance. l The last bill was the one designated the conservator bill, designed to place ''incorrigi- bles,'' such as habitual drunkards or thieves,
 wife-beaters and prostitutes who are perpet-
 ually getting into jail, into the hands of the sheriff, either to hold him or her in the jail at l his will, or let them out to work, the money earned, if in the jail, to go as all other l ployed elsewhere, to go to his or her family | for their support. Such incorrigible shall remain in the charge of the sheriff or the | county commissioners until he or she is | cured, and then either on the petition of the 1 person or of the conservator, application for | release from this confinement may be made to | the Superior Court which may release the per- | son when satisfied he or she is cured of the | habits which resulted in the original commit ment The judge said he presumed there were between twenty-fv and fifty persons in New Haven who would be committed to the sherifs | care under this law.
 | The Legislative Joint Select Committee on Female Suffrage gave hearing yesterday fore. noon to the friends of female suffrage in the l ante-room of the House of Representatives. l There was large attendance, and addresses
 were made by Alderman Joseph Sheldon of New Haven, and John Hooker of Hartford.