fluences were bad, and Miss Elliott stated that the nine girls who proved "failures" after their discharge from the Mercer refuge failed because the influence of the homes to which they returned proved evil.

Absolute discharge is objectionable in any case in which the boy or girl may be benefited by the surveillance and protection of the school authorities.

An Act passed by the Ontario Legislature last year provides that "No boy shall be received for confinement in the Ontario Reformatory for Boys who appears to the superintendent of the reformatory to be under the age of thirteen years, and that corresponding amendments be made in the Act respecting the reformatory. It is well that boys of tender age should be kept out of the reformatory if possible, but it would be a great mistake to suppose that boys can always with advantage or with safety be classed according to age. All the evidence taken on this point agrees that boys of eight or nine have, in many cases, received a thorough training in vice and are thoroughly depraved. It is well to know, therefore, that a judge of the county court or a police magistrate on complaint of the officer in charge of an industrial school may send an inmate of such school to the reformatory if satisfied that "by reason of incorrigible or vicious conduct or escape or habits of escape and with reference to the general discipline of the school he is beyond the control" of such officer. If this section does not apply to boys under thirteen the law should be amended in that direction. The Ontario statute further provides that" Where under the authority of any statute of the Province or of any other statute or law in force in the Province and relating to matters within the legislative authority of the Legislature of the Province any offender is convicted, whether summarily or otherwise, of any offence punishable by imprisonment by any judge, stipendiary or police magistrate, or justice of the peace who, at the time of the trial, is of the opinion that such offender does not exceed the age of thirteen years, such judge, magistrate or justice may order such offender to be sent to a certified industrial school subject to the provisions of the Industrial Schools Act, and that such offender shall thereupon be detained in such industrial school until he be reformed or otherwise fit to be apprenticed or bound out or be probationally or permanently discharged under the provisions of the Industrial Schools Act, and such detention shall be substituted in such case for the imprisonment in the penitentiary or reformatory or such place of confinement by which the offender would otherwise be punishable under any such statute or law relating thereto as aforesaid; provided that in no ca e shall the offender be detained beyond the age of 17 years."

These sections extend the scope of the Industrial Schools Act so that even children who commit serious offences, if they are under 13 years of age, may be sent to industrial schools, and they seem to provide for the system of indeterminate sentences to some extent. An Act passed by the Dominion Parliament last session provides that children under 13 years of age now in the reformatory or in any gaol of the Province may be removed to certified industrial schools, and that boys under thirteen years of age who are convicted of any offence punishable by imprisonment under the laws of Canada may be sent to such an industrial school. Parliament, however, adheres to the old system of fixing the term of imprisonment at "not exceeding five years nor less than two." The Dominion

Act says:

32. The Governor-General, by warrant under his hand, may at any time in his discretion (the consent of the Provincial Secretary of Ontario having been first obtained) cause any boy who is imprisoned in a reformatory or gaol in that province, under sentence for an offence against a law of Canada, and who is certified by the court, judge or magistrate by whom he was tried to have been, in

the opinion of such court, judge or magistrate, at the time of his trial of or under the age of thirteen years, to be transferred for the remainder of his term of imprisonment to a certified industrial school in the province.

33. Where under any law of Canada any boy is convicted in Ontario, whether summarily or otherwise, of any offence punishable by imprisonment, and the court, judge, stipendiary or police magistrate by whom he is so convicted is of opinion that such boy does not exceed the age of thirteen years, such court, judge or magistrate may sentence such boy to imprisonment in a certified industrial school for any term not exceeding five years and not less than two years: Provided that no boy shall be sentenced to any such school unless public notice has been given in the Ontario Gazette and has not been countermanded, that such school is ready to receive and maintain boys sentenced under laws of the Dominion Provided, also, that no such boy shall be detained in any certified industrial school beyond the age of seventeen years.

THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL AT MIMICO.

The school at Mimico, still the only industrial school in this Province, is conveniently situated on a farm of 50 acres of good land a few miles from the city of Toronto and a short distance from a railway station. The buildings command a fine view of Lake Ontario. The land was given by the Provincial Government for this purpose. The school was opened about three and a half years ago. At the annual meeting held in October, 1889, it was stated that there were then 108 boys in the school. A year before the number was 55. When the Commissioners visited the school the number was said to be 140, and it has since increased considerably we believe. The boys are chiefly sent from Toronto, but when the report of the year 1889 was written there were eight from the County of York, five from the County of Ontario, three from Oxford, three from Simcoe, two from Welland, two from Lincoln, and one from each of the Counties of Norfolk, Brant, Peterborough, Perth and Haliburton. Nine of these boys were from 7 to 9 years of age; forty-six were from 10 to 12, and fifty-three from 13 to 15.

It is stated in the report that eighteen of these boys were employed on the farm, eleven in the carpenter's shop, sixteen in the tailor's shop, fourteen in the laundry and house work, twenty-one in the kitchen and dining-room, one in the Superintendent's office and store-room, and twenty-seven in the cottages at house work and mending. Their time, it was stated, was divided as follows: in manual labour in the several departments 4 hours each day; in school work 3 hours; in play out of doors 24 hours; in washing, dressing, and meals 24 hours; in Bible reading and devotional exercises 1 hour; in reading and recreation in cottages 1 hour; in sleep 9 hours.

The school is conducted on the combined cottage and congregate plan. The cottages completed at the time of the Commissioners' visit were built to accommodate 110 boys, and as there were then 140 boys in the school they were much crowded. The construction of another cottage had been begun. Another, we observe, is now asked for. Workshops are also required. The cottages are very neat structures and apparently well adapted for their purpose, but as in the cottages of several similar institutions the only supervision of the boys at night is what one of the officers who sleeps in an adjoining room from which a small iron door opens on the dormitory can give. Some of the boys are too young to work but the larger boys seemed to be all occupied. The farm seems to be well cultivated, and in the farm yard were several excellent cows.

The boys are taught farming, carpentering, and tailoring, and a number were employed in the kitchen and laundry.

There is no shoemaking, but the boys mend shoes in the winter. One boy managed the shoe room and the others assisted him. Of the boys, 57 were too small to work on the farm, and of the larger boys, more than the number stated in the Annual Report (18) could not be spared for that work, as a number must be employed in the kitchen, laundry and domestic work. When a boy first goes to the school, he is, as a rule, sent to the laundry. This the boys do not like. When a new boy comes in, the best boy in the laundry is moved to the kitchen. From the kitchen the boys go to the dining room, and from that to the carpenter shop or to the farm. On holidays, all the big boys are sent to the farm.

Asked whether the instruction is given in the carpenter and other shops with a view to enabling the boys to follow these trades when they go out, the Superintendent said:" Well, my idea is to make them handy lads. My idea is that they should go on farms, go out into the country, to Manitoba, for example, and perhaps keep bachelor's hall there. I think a boy should be taught to cook for himself, mend for himself, make a pair of socks for himself, fix anything that is needed about a farm building, and generally to be independent of needing other assistance. As yet, none of our boys have gone to the trades they learned here. But it makes them handy, and if they learn one thing, they will pick up anything else a great deal quicker. We try to put any boys that come here through a whole course and do not confine them to any one special thing. But it is to make them useful on a farm that I aim at giving them a little training in a carpenter shop. We really don't teach them anything but tailoring well. Some of our boys who have been here two or three years can make a very nice coat, better than you will get in the average shop in Toronto, that is, of the common_sort." He also said: "I encourage the boys as much as possible to go on farms. I place with the farmers here in the summer months as much as I can and I encourage as many as I can to go to the free grant lands of Ontario, or to Manitoba. I think a boy has a far better chance of becoming comfortable and useful there than in going back to the city. We have now eight or ten boys working in the neighbourhood with farmers, on trial, and three of these will stay to complete the year. But boys who come from the cities generally prefer city life, and parents who live in cities wish their boys to return to them when discharged."

In nearly all cases, the Superintendent says, the boys are committed to this school at the request of their parents or some friends. It is manifest that such an institution must offer strong temptations to unprincipled, worthless parents to rid themselves of the care and expense of bringing up their children at home, unless the provisions of the law requiring all parents to contribute in proportion to their means to the maintenance of the children sent to the school be strictly enforced. The Superintendent said that many do agree to pay. The amount is fixed according to circumstances. Some pay 50 cents a week, some a dollar, and others $1.50. The maximum is $2. Many make their payment at the school on visiting day.

Since the school was opened only two boys have been dealt with as incorrigibles. One of these was a boy sent out from the old country by a charitable association. He ran away three times. Both were sent to the reformatory at Penetanguishene.

DRUNKENNESS.

Although the volume of vice and crime may be greatly reduced and the number of criminals be greatly lessened by proper care of the young the State must always be prepared to employ prevention or remedy in the case of many adults whom natural weakness or an evil disposition and the want of such an education as strengthens what is weak in the character and corrects what is bad, expose to danger or involve in crime.

Drunkenness does more than any other cause to fill the gaols, and it unquestionably does much to recruit the ranks of the criminal classes. Of the 11,893 persons committed to the gaols of the Province during the year 1889 no less than 4,777 were charged with having been drunk and disorderly, and in all probability excessive use of strong drink was the chief cause of trouble in the case of the 534 persons who were committed on the charge of common assault. Of the 11,587 cases disposed of in the police court of the city of Toronto 5,441 were cases of drunkenness and of disorderly conduct caused by drunkenness. The proportion in the other cities, as will be seen by reference to the returns published elsewhere, was about the same. The number of convictions on charges of drunkenness in the province during the year was 7,059, very nearly one-third of the whole; and of the 675 prisoners in the common gaols at the close of the year a very large proportion were habitual drunkards.

A similar state of things exists in other countries. In England and Wales the convictions for drunkenness were 166,366 in the year 1889, or nearly onefourth of the total number. A few years before they were 205,567. In Scotland the convictions for this offence numbered 28,740 in the year 1889. How many of these paid the penalties by imprisonment the reports do not state, but the proportion was probably large.

A very large proportion of those convicted of drunkenness are habitual. drunkards who are fined or imprisoned many times. The commissioners of Prisons of England and Wales caused enquiries to be made at some of the largest prisons" with a view to eliciting information which may throw some light on the subject of re-conviction." They say that the prisoners who are frequently convicted are addicted to committing the same crime or offence time after time, these offences being in the case of males, drunkenness, theft, assault and vagrancy, and in the case of females, drunkenness, theft and vagrancy. Of the last 1,700 male prisoners received on re-conviction at the prisons from which returns were asked for, 466 or 27.4 per cent. were for drunkenness ; 273 or 16 per cent. for theft ; 142 or 8.3 per cent. for assault and 137 or 8 per cent, for vagrancy. Of 1,300 female prisoners 696 or 57.5 per cent. were for drunkenness; 146 or 11.2 per cent. for theft, and 92 or 7 per cent. for vagrancy.

In Scotland the number of re-convictions is large. Of those convicted on all charges in 1889, 4,803 had been convicted once before; 2,430 twice before; 1,477 three times before; 1,074 four times before; 695 five times before; 1,564 six times and under ten; 1,370 ten times and under twenty; 914 twenty times and under fifty, and 379 fifty times and upwards. The total number convicted more than once was 14,706. A large proportion of these were drunkards.

The total number of persons committed to local prisons in Ireland during the year ending March 31st 1888, was males 10,769, females 6,764, total 17,533. The report does not state the number of these who were previously convicted, but the proportion probably was large.

In the state of Massachusetts the whole number sent to gaols and houses of correction to undergo sentence for drunkenness in the year 1889 was 13,286 of

whom 11,863 had the option of paying a fine, 1,023 were sentenced to imprisonment for terms of less than six months; 362 for terms of six and less than 12 months, and 38 for one year and less than two. The total number convicted of drunkenness and held in all the penal institutions on one day for non-payment of fine and costs was 1,542; and the total number of those so convicted and held on term sentences was 811.

The total number sent to the Boston House of Industry during the year 1889 for offences of all kinds punishable by imprisonment in that institution was 13,749. Of these 44 were committed as habitual drunkards and 11,958 others on charges of drunkenness. One of those convicted as a common drunkard was committed 18 times. But of those not so classed many were committed more frequently. 1,006 were committed a third time; 724 a fourth time; 596 a fifth time; 1,388 more than five and less than ten times; 1,405 ten times and less than twenty times; 576 twenty times and less than 40 times and several others even more frequently, one who died in confinement having been committed 176 times.

The fact that no general persistent effort has been made in any country to provide by law against the continuance of this deplorable state of things proves that so far it has been found difficult if not impossible to deter or reform the drunkard by any legal process. Massachusetts is doing something to test the value of continued reformative restraint and training. During the year 1889 fifty-two common drunkards and 77 convicted of drunkenness for the second or third time were sent to the reformatory for men, the whole number sent from 1884-5 inclusive being 354 common drunkards and 654 convicted of drunkenness more than once. To the reformatory for women 92 were sent for drunkenness, the average length of whose sentences was one year two months and six days. The superintendent of the reformatory for women says that many of the drunkards entrusted to her care have been thoroughly cured. Her opinion is that it requires fully two years to quench the craving of a confirmed drunkard for alcoholic stimulants, and to build up the moral and physical strength sufficiently to enable her to resist temptation when she returns to the world. During the past nine years 917 women have been committed to this institution on charges of drunkenness.

That these partial and feeble efforts have been insufficient to reduce the amount of drunkenness perceptibly, is shown by the reports from the gaols and the Boston House of Industry which have been quoted. Some effort more thorough an general is absolutely necessary.

It was supposed at one time that a very large number of the drunkards of the country could be rescued from the terrible degradation in which they are sunk by the establishment of inebriate asylums in which at least those who desired to shake off the dreadful habit would be effectually assisted by skilful medical treatment. The belief in the efficacy of such treatment is neither so general nor so strong as it was a few years ago.

Compulsory abstinence from the use of alcohol in any form and a careful strengthening of the moral and physical nature may be successful in rescuing many of those who have not become mere wrecks mentally and physically and who are not thoroughly depraved. To achieve any marked degree of success in dealing with this monster evil, prevention and earnest rational means of restoring the fallen must be combined.

The evidence given as to the causes of drunkenness, its effects and the best mode of dealing with it differed very widely. Some witnesses thought drunkenness a disease. Even those who refused, on scientific that the drunkard is in most cases to be

grounds, so to regard it, thought