Return of Prisoners in the General Penitentiaries, District Prisons and County Gaols on the 30th September, 1886-87, 1887-88, 1888-89, 1889-91and on 31st March, 1891-92. DAILY AVERAGE NUMBER OF PRISONERS IN THE SEVERAL PRISONS OF JAMAICA COMPARED WITH POPULATION. Discipline has been well maintained in all the Prisons, very little corporal punishment has been required and has only been awarded in cases of gross breaches of Prison discipline. The mark system in the General Penitentiary works satisfactorily. The committals to the District Prisons have increased, and they have at times become inconveniently crowded. This difficulty has been met by the transfer of prisoners from one District Prison to another, and to the General Penitentiary. The following are the Official Visitors of the General Penitentiary : Captain K. H. A. Mainwaring, R.N. John C. Fegan, Esqs. INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL AND REFORMATORIES. IN 1881 the several laws relating to Reformatories were consolidated and amended, the principal provisions of the new enactment (Law 34 of 1881) being the following: For the erection of suitable buildings and premises, separate and distinct from the Reformatory of Stony Hill, as a Reformatory for girls; the establishing of Industrial Schools for boys and girls in the neighbourhood of Kingston and Montego Bay; the committal of criminal children to Reformatories and pauper children to Industrial Schools; and the detention of all children in these institutions until they attain the age of 16. Under Law 34 of 1881, the St. Mary's Industrial School for girls at Alpha Cottage was certified in December, 1889, and in August, 1890, an Industrial School for boys under 10 at the same place was also certified. Bishop Gordon of the Roman Catholic Church is the Manager of both these Schools. An Industrial School for Girls under Bishop Nuttall at Stony Hill has also been certified on the 27th Oct., 1892. In January, 1891, a Government Industrial School was started at Hope Plantation with 20 boys transferred from the Industrial School at Stony Hill; and in April, 1892, one for girls was opened at Shortwood, St. Andrew. This is the commencement of a movement to separate non-criminal from criminal children, to further which the Industrial Schools were in May, 1891, placed under the Education Department, Mr. Capper being then appointed Inspector of Industrial Schools. BOYS' INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL AND REFORMATORY, STONY HILL. THE boys at Stony Hill are trained as tailors, carpenters, masons, black and tinsmiths, bakers, &c. Thirty of them were employed during the year 1891-92 in the carpenter's shop; they made articles of furniture, &c., &c., of the value of £290 18. 2 d. Eight to 12 boys were employed as masons and bricklayers; they did work valued at £88 12s. Od. The work in the tailoring branch was performed by 20 to 35 boys; they made all the outer clothing, cots and mattresses for the institution. Other boys worked in the blacksmith's shop, bakery, garden and fields. By their steady application to labour the cultivation which on the 1st January, 1878, was only half an-acre, is now extended to 50 acres, comprising 4 acres in cane, 6 acres in coffee, 4 acres in vegetables, 25 acres in provisions, and 11 acres in Guinea grass. A certain amount of time each day is devoted to school work under a resident schoolmaster. Discipline is very creditably maintained. A drum corps has been established at the institution and the boys are now regularly drilled by a competent drill instructor. The gross cost per head per diem for the 230 boys who were in the institution during the year ending the 31st March, 1892, was 1s. Od.11, and the average earnings per child for that period, 5d per diem. The Board of Visitors is as follows: YEAR. The Hon. James Cecil Phillippo, M.D. The Rev. H. H. Isaacs, M.A. The Right Rev. Bishop Gordon. Secretary. CHILDREN IN BOYS' REFORMATORY AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL AT THE END OF EACH The respective ages of the boys in the Institution on the 31st March, 1892, were: GIRLS' INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL AND REFORMATORY. THE girls were transferred from Stony Hill to Admiral's Pen on the 15th June, 1882, the premises there having been adapted to, and certified as, a Reformatory for girls under the Law 34 of 1881. The course of training pursued at the institution is schooling for two hours daily and domestic labour for the rest of the day. The value of the labour of the girls in 1891-92 was £438 16s. Od. The gross cost of each child was 12d.167 per diem. At the expiration of their term of service suitable employment in families is found for such inmates as have no friends or relatives to claim them, instead of their being returned to their parishes under police escort as formerly. The Board of Visitors is the same as that of the Boys Reformatory; the institution is also visited by a committee of ladies. The Reformatory is under the supervision of the Inspector General. The Board of Lady Visitors is as follows :— Mrs. Isaacs. Mrs. Capper. Mrs. Chapman. Mrs. Wedderburn. CHILDREN IN GIRLS' REFORMATORY AT END OF EACH YEAR. Paupers. 27 27 24 28 26 Mrs. Sant. Miss Cargill. The respective ages of the girls in the institution on the 31st March, 1892, were: The Inspector General re *Paid at the rate of £850 as Inspector General of Police and of Prisons. ceives reimbursement of travelling expenses under the regulations at present in force. t Wood, water, residence and medical attendance. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PRISONS AND REFORMATORIES DEPARTMENT, continued. THE subject of Education generally, and of Elementary Education in particular, has recently occupied so large a share of the attention of the public, that a section of the Handbook has been specially assigned to it, and readers are referred to Part VIII. The following is the establishment of the Education Department : ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT. Salary and Date of First other Appointment to Emolument. Public Service. £ B. d. J. D. Kerrich, B.A. 300 0 0 A. E. Lockyer, B.A. 300 0 0 1st Mar., '76 1st April, '84 1st Jan., '89 24th Feb. '91 A. Young, B.A. F. E. Reed 300 0 0 22nd June, '92 E. A. Andrews E. O. Romney 190 0 0 Assistant Clerk Ditto SHORTWOOD TRAINING COL LEGE FOR FEMALES. Lady Principal W. E. B. Sinclair A. E. Shirley First Assistant Mistress Miss C. Thomson 65 0 0 Aug., '90 Jan., '91 Third do. do. Oct., '90 Third do. do. and Mistress. Medical Officer Secretary Board of Visitors SHORTWOOD INDUSTRIAL Aug., '91 * Wood, water, residence and medical attendance. t Wood, water and residence in addition. Receives pay as District Medical Officer of Western District of St. Andrew. Receives pay as District Medical Officer of Halfway-Tree District of St. Andrew. Including travelling allowance. 1 Besides board, lodging and medical attendance. REGISTRATION DEPARTMENT. BEFORE the 1st April, 1878, no public provision had been made in Jamaica for the registration of births and deaths. 66 "Baptisms" and "burials” administered and solemnized by Ministers of the Church of England had for many years been recorded at the Island Secretary's Office, Spanish Town (now the Public Record Office). These registers have now been transferred to the custody of the Registrar General and deposited in the General Register Office, where they can be referred to for baptism or burial certificates in cases that occurred before the institution of the new system. From the 1st April, 1878, births and deaths have been recorded throughout the island, each parish being divided into registration districts with a Registrar for each district, the central recording office being at Spanish Town. BIRTHS. When a birth takes place personal information of it must be given within 42 days to the Registrar of the district in which it took place, and the register be signed in his presence by one of the following persons: 1. The father or mother of the child; if they fail 2. The occupier of the house in which the birth took place; 3. A person present at the birth; or 4. The person having charge of the child. The duty of attending to the registration thus rests firstly on the parents. One of them must within 42 days of the birth give to the Registrar by word of mouth the information needed and must sign the register in his presence. If they fail, without reasonable cause, they become liable to a penalty of forty shillings. In case of their failure one of the other classes of informants above named must give personal information and sign the register within the same period. If at the end of 42 days registration has not been effected the Registrar may send a requisition to any qualified informant requiring him or her to attend for the purpose and any person who fails to comply with such requisition is liable to a penalty of forty shillings. After three months a birth can only be registered on the informant's making, before the Registrar and some Justice of the Peace, or in place of such Justice some other respectable witness, a solemn declaration as to the correctness of the particulars required to be registered and on payment of a fee of one shilling to the Registrar. After twelve months a birth can be registered only on the express authority of the Registrar General and on payment of further fees. It is often of great importance to persons of all classes to be able to prove their age and the place of their birth. The only legal proof of these is to be obtained from the civil registers as kept by law. Parents owe to their children, therefore, a careful attention to registration. DEATHS. When a death takes place personal information of it must be given within five days afterwards to the Registrar of the district in which it occurred, and the register be signed in his presence by one of the following persons :- 1. The nearest relative of the deceased present at the death, or in attendance during the last illness; if they fail 2. Some other relative of the deceased in the same Registrar's district. In default of any relatives 3. (a) A person present at the death; (b) the occupier of the house in which the death happened. If all the above named fail 4. (a) An inmate of the house; or (b) the person causing the body to bu buried. Relatives present or in attendance are, therefore, firstly required to attend to the registration. One of them must give to the Registrar of the district by word of mouth the information needed and sign the register. In case of the failure one of the other persons above named must give personal information and sign the register in their stead. When a Registered Medical Practitioner has attended the deceased during the last illness the Practitioner must sign and give to some person qualified as an informant |