BOARD OF SUPERVISION.

By Law 15 of 1881 certain powers were vested in the Governor in questions of poor relief, but it had not been found practicable to carry out any real supervision under that law, even when the Parochial Boards were nominated by the Governor, and this difficulty was increased when Boards came to be elected, while various circumstances led to the conviction that it was essential to have some central authority to lay down and enforce general principles of poor relief and to interpose when there was neglect.

These requirements were provided by Law 6 of 1886, which vests all matters relating to the poor in a Board of Supervision consisting of nine members appointed by the Governor. The Board, in so far as its authority goes, is analogous to the Local Government Boards in England, Scotland and Ireland. These latter Boards control the administration of other acts than those of the relief of the poor, notably those relating to the public health, besides many others which it is not necessary to enumerate here.

There was considerable opposition to the local law while it was in progress through the Legislature, chiefly from the Parochial Boards, some of which transmitted petitions against it to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, while on the other hand other Parochial Boards petitioned in favour of the law.

The then Secretary of State (Earl Granville) answered in detail the objections urged against the law and stated that he thought it was "likely to prove a very useful measure," and that he was "unable to agree in the opinion of the petitioners that supervision and control over the Local Bodies entrusted with the administration of poor relief is unnecessary," and that there did not "appear to be reasonable ground for complaint that the system of supervision by a Central Board, established by this law, had been substituted for the much greater power of interference vested in the Governor by the previously existing law.' Both the Secretary of State and the Governor expressed the hope that the law would be accepted by the community in a spirit of loyalty and that the various Parochial Boards would continue to conduct that important branch of their duty which embraces poor relief with zeal and good will. With reference to this it may be remarked that the Board of Supervision in its first annual report stated that "it only remains for us to add with gratification, that with very few exceptions the Parochial Boards of the island have accepted the provisions of the law and have joined with more or less cordiality in working with the Board of Supervision under it, realizing no doubt that the interest and aims both of the Parochial Boards and the Board of Supervision are not antagonistic." The Governor also in his report on the Blue Book of the colony for the year 1886-87 addressed to the Secretary of State for the Colonies stated that in their first annual report the Board of Supervision gave "evidence of the good service of organization upon which they have been engaged" and that the oposition to the constitution of this Body had died away in the face of experience of the Board's. working, "greatly owing to the tact and good reason which have characterized the proceedings of the Board." The Board of Supervision is entirely a nominated one. The names of the members are given on page 222.

The general duties of the Board of Supervision are thus described in the 10th section of Law 6 of 1886:

"It shall be lawful for the Board of Supervision to examine into the manner in which poor relief is administered in the several parishes, and in cases where it shall appear to the Board that the arrangements in any parish are defective to require the Parochial Board of such parish to remedy such defect; to audit the accounts and books of the Parochial Boards in so far as these relate to the relief of the poor; to investigate and determine all charges of misconduct against the Inspectors of the Poor, Masters of Poor Houses, Medical or other Officers who may be appointed by the Parochial Boards, and to investigate and report to the Governor any charge preferred against a District Medical Officer, such charge having been brought to its notice in writing and duly authenticated; to settle any question of difference arising between two or more Parochial Boards or the officials of such Boards; to hear and decide appeals from poor persons who have been refused relief, or who may con

sider the relief afforded them inadequate; and generally it shall be the duty of the Board of Supervision to see the law effectually administered by the several Parochial Boards, without injustice to the persons entitled to relief on the one hand and with due regard to the interest of the taxpayers on the other, and so far as may be to secure unity of system in its practical administration throughout the island."

As an instance of the laxity of administration that prevailed prior to the formation of the Board it is to be noted that in its first annual report the Board stated that a call for a simple statement of the number of male and female paupers elicited in one instance the reply that it was not possible to give the information desired at once, as the existing pauper roll did not distinguish males from females. The following statistics are taken from the report of the Board for the financial year ended 31st March, 1898 :

The total number of paupers on the 1st April, 1898, was 4,730 or 44 less than the same date in 1897. The chief increases in the year 1896-97 were in the parishes of Kingston, Hanover, Westmoreland and St. Catherine, and the chief decreases in St. Mary and St. Elizabeth. The males and females formed respectively 30 and 70 per cent. of the out-door poor and 56 and 44 per cent. of the in-door poor on the 1st April, 1898.

Of the total poor in the island, exclusive of lunatics and Industrial School children, the out-door formed 83 per cent. and the in-door formed 17 per cent. on the 1st April, 1898, the out-door poor varying from 100 per cent. in Manchester to 67 per cent. in St. Mary.

The percentage of paupers to the population was highest in the parish of Kingston, viz., 2.0, and lowest in the parish of St. Elizabeth, viz., 0.3, while the average for the island was 0.7. The similar figures for the following colonies and countries are as stated below: Barbados 1.4, British Guiana 1.0, England 2.6, Scotland 1.5 and Ireland 2.2.

It appears that the total cost of inspection of the poor in the various parishes allowed by the Board of Supervision, on the 31st March, 1898, was £1,952, the area to be inspected 4,207 square miles, the population (estimated) 718,400, the out-door poor 3,939, the in-door poor 791, making a total of 4,730; and that the total estimated cost of the relief of the poor in 1898-99 was £48,727.

The amount collected in poor rates in 1897-98 was £38,693 and the amount actually spent in the relief of the poor in the same period was £44,492.

BOARD OF SUPERVISION.

CHAIRMAN-Hon. Jno. Pringle, M.B., Member of the Privy Council and Custos of St. Mary.
Hon. C. B. Mosse, C. B., C.M.G., S.M.O.
Hon. H. R. Pipon Schooles, Attorney
Wellesley Bourke, Esq.
Simon Soutar, Esq.

Hon. J, T. Palache, Member of the Legislative Council for Manchester.

General.

J. V. Calder, Esq., Chairman Parochial
Board of St. Elizabeth.

P. C. Cork, Esq., Asst. Colonial Secretary.

Hon. Geo. McGrath, Custos of St. Catherine.

THE Government Laboratory was instituted in the year 1870 by Sir J. P. Grant who was then Governor of Jamaica, and the Secretary of State for the Colonies appointed Mr. J. J. Bowrey, F.C.S., to be Analytical Chemist to the Government

* Mr. Johnstone is also Secretary of the Schools Commission and Assistant to the Govt. Meteorologist.

of Jamaica for judicial and other purposes, this appointment he held until his death on November, 19th, 1897. Dr. C. A. Thompson acted as Chemist during the interval which elapsed until a successor to Mr. Bowrey was appointed.

In May, 1898, Mr. Francis Watts, F.I.C., was appointed Analytical and Agricultural Chemist to the Government, with Mr. A. J. Story, B.A. as Assistant. In order to secure the performance of Chemical work of an agricultural nature the Jamaica Agricultural Society had decided to obtain the services of a Chemist, but on the death of Mr. Bowrey arrangements were made to conduct the agricultural work in the Government Laboratory, and for this purpose the Society voted a sum as a grant in aid.

In the year ending 31st March, 1898, twenty-seven human viscera were analysed for judicial purposes, and the bodies of two animals were examined for poisons. For this same purposes articles of food and drink have been analysed in nineteen cases of suspected attempts to administer poisons. For public purposes, not of a judicial nature, forty-two substances have been analysed, including wines, spirits, perfumes, oils, etc., for the Customs, waters for their fitness for drinking, bitters, &c. Forty-four varieties of sugar cane were analysed and the results published in the Bulletin of the Botanical Department, October and November, 1897.

PART VI.

JUDICIAL AND LEGAL.

SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE.

Up to 1879 the Supreme Court of Judicature of this island was but a Court of Common Law, although under various statutes it exercised jurisdiction in bankruptcy, and in several other matters specially provided for. In the year above-named it underwent a reconstruction and had consolidated with it the High Court of Chancery, the Incumbered Estates Court, the Court of Ordinary, the Court of Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, the Chief Court of Bankruptcy and the Circuit Courts.

The Court consists of a Chief Justice and two Puisne Judges, the Chief Justice being President. The two Puisne Judges rank according to the dates of their appointment. All the Judges must be members of the Bar of England, Ireland or Scotland, of at least five years standing.

The full Court holds a session in Kingston 6 times a year, in the months of January, March, May, July, September and November. A special sitting of the full Court may at any time be appointed by the Chief Justice. Except in relation to the matters specified in sections 31 and 32 of the Judicature Law and to causes and matters (other than of an interlocutory nature) under the Divorce Law, a single Judge sitting in Court or in Chambers may exercise the jurisdiction and powers of the full Court: Provided that such Judge may at any time, if he shall think fit, refer any matter be-fore him for the consideration of the full Court." ""*

The following are the Rules* with regard to the business of the several divisions of the Court :

(1.) The duties of the Circuit Courts shall be performed by the Judges by arrangement amongst themselves.

(2.) Business in Equity and for the sale of Incumbered Estates shall be transacted and disposed of in the first instance by a single Judge sitting in Court or at Chambers, such single Judge being ordinarily the Chief Justice.

(3.) Business in Bankruptcy (see Bankruptcy Law) shall be transacted and disposed of in the first instance by a single Judge sitting in Court or at Chambers, such single Judge being ordinarily the Senior Puisne Judge. (4.) Non-contentious business in Probate and Administration shall be transacted and disposed of by a single Judge sitting at Chambers, the sitting Judge being ordinarily the Junior Puisne Judge.

NOTE.-The Clerk of the Resident Magistrate's Court of each parish is the Clerk of the Circuit Court held within the parish, except in the case of the Circuit Court of Kingston, of which the Registrar of the Supreme Court is Clerk.

THE BAR IN JAMAICA.

BARRISTERS-AT-LAW.

Mr. Chapman is also Commissioner of Stamps, the salary of £800 covering all the duties discharged by him. Removed, under Law 39 of of 1896, from Roll of Barristers in Jamaica and enrolled as Solicitor by order of Supreme Court, made on 22nd Sept., 1896.