REGULATIONS FOR BRANCH, AND LOCAL

ASSOCIATIONS.

The Association recognises two classes of Provincial Associations.

I. Branch Associations, of which the conditions are— Their members to be members of the General Association, and to subscribe £1 1s. annually, or £10 10s. as a life payment.

All the subscriptions to be paid to the Central Office, but a part to be allowed by the Council towards the expenses of the Branch, in addition to any special grants that may be made.

The Branch Association to elect its own President, Secretary, and other Officers.

The Branch Association to elect annually not more than two members of the General Council.

II. Local Associations, of which the conditions are—

That the Local Association shall regulate the amount of its own subscriptions, but that every member on whose behalf 10s. shall be paid yearly into the general funds of the Association shall have the privilege at his option

1. Of a copy of the Transactions.

2. Of attending the annual meeting of the Association, and of procuring a copy of the Transactions at a reduced price, to be annually fixed by the Council.

INTRODUCTION.

THE Seventh Annual Meeting of the Association was held in Edinburgh, from the 7th to the 14th of October, 1863. On the afternoon of the 7th there was a special service in the High Church, when the sermon was preached by the Rev. William Arnot, D.D. The opening meeting took place on the same day, in the Free Assembly Hall, and the President, Lord Brougham, delivered his address. A vote of thanks for his Lordship's address was moved by the Lord Advocate, and seconded by the Right Honourable Joseph Napier, and was carried by acclamation. The following Report from the Council was then read by the General Secretary, and was adopted on the motion of the Right Honourable C. B. Adderley, M.P., seconded by Lord Ardmillan :

:

At the London meeting of the Association, held in June, 1862, the constitution of the Council was materially altered. Up to that time it had consisted of the officers of the Association and of sixty other members, elected annually by the whole body of the Association. Under the present laws, these sixty members are chosen in equal proportions by the Committees of each of the six Departments; and to their number are added, besides the officers and such members of the former Council as had been thrice elected, every member of either House of Parliament who is also a member of the Association, and representatives chosen by learned societies and other bodies connected with our Society. This enlarged constitution has added greatly not only to the number (now exceeding 200), but also to the influence and efficiency of the Council, as a body representing the opinions and deliberating on the policy of the Association. At the same time an Executive Committee was appointed to transact, under the direction of the Council, the ordinary business of the Association.

It is proposed, in this Report, to lay before the members an account of the proceedings both of the Council and its Executive Committee.

The Council first proceeded to deal with the resolutions which had been passed by the Departments at the London meeting, and referred to the consideration of the Standing Committee on Education the resolutions affirming the necessity of providing means for "testing and attesting" the education of women of the middle and higher classes, on which they have not yet received a report. The Council are of opinion that this is a question requiring considerable deliberation and inquiry. They are informed that efforts are being made to open to female candidates the middle-class examinations of Oxford and Cambridge; and the example of the examinations by the Society of Arts, which have been for some time open to women, affords an encouraging precedent.*

Another resolution passed by the Education Department, requesting the Council to consider whether the beneficial results which have been obtained in the district schools for destitute and orphan children might not be increased by an extension of the same principle, was referred to the Standing Committee, and has been reported on by them in the following resolutions :

:

"1. That all in-door pauper children should be educated in schools far apart from workhouses, and where no adult pauper is admitted; and that though this rule may admit of exceptions in some agricultural districts, it should never be departed from in large city populations.

"2. That the experience acquired by the establishment of pauper schools is sufficient to demonstrate that the expenses of education, both intellectual and industrial, are less in proportion as the numbers educated in any school are large.

"3. That it is impossible to introduce the most efficient modes of industrial training in small boys' schools.

"4. That though in small workhouse schools very high intellectual results are obtainable, yet only at a cost disproportionately large, while it is almost impracticable to provide satisfactorily for the physical, moral, and industrial training, which are consequently generally neglected.

"5. That the Admiralty be solicited to supply, through the Poor Law Board, to pauper schools containing not less than eighty boys, old materials from the

By the kind permission of the Cambridge Syndicate, a private examination of an experimental character was held in London in connexion with the Cambridge Lccal Examinations for 1863. The Committee were allowed to make use of the papers prepared by the University examiners, who consented to look over and report upon the answers. The examination of the girls was held simultaneously with that of the boys, and the University regulations were strictly observed. Eighty-three girls, chiefly the daughters of professional men, underwent examination. The names were sent in at a fortnight's notice, six weeks only being allowed for preparation. That so large a number of candidates should have been presented, on so short a notice, is in itself a sufficient indication that the advantages of such an examination are understood and appreciated. In every point of view, the experiment was completely successful, and a strong desire was expressed by both teachers and students that it might be the first step towards the establishment of a regular and permanent system.-Statement of the Committee for the Admission of Girls to University Local Examinations.

Dockyards, for erecting ships of 200 or 300 tons, for the purpose of training the boys as sailors.

"6. That it is desirable that the schools, in the girls' departments especially, should be open, under the sanction of the managers, to the frequent visits of persons who take an interest in the welfare of this class of children.

7. That in placing the children out to service, care should be taken to find them situations as far removed as possible from their former acquaintances, and localities inhabited by them previous to their becoming paupers.

"8. That homes or refuges should be provided, in which those girls who happen to be out of place after leaving the schools for service, should be received on a small payment up to the age of twenty.

9. That the children, during their first two years of service, should be visited, if possible, by the chaplain of each school, or by some responsible person, who should report to the managers on their condition and behaviour."

The Council having referred to the Standing Committee of the Third Department the resolution passed by the London Meeting, recommending a further inquiry on the subject of prison discipline in England and Ireland, the supervision of convicts, and the establishment of a reformatory for refractory juveniles, the Committee recommended that the subject should be referred to a special Committee, which was accordingly appointed, and which, during the last spring and summer, was actively employed in watching the proceedings of the Royal Commission on Penal Servitude, and collected information on the subject, and issued several Reports, which were printed and circulated. The Council hope that the whole question of convict treatment will again receive the fullest consideration of the Association at this meeting, and that the Standing Committee of the Department will direct to it their anxious attention during the ensuing year. The Council, indeed, felt that one portion of the question, namely, the renewal of transportation, which had been strongly pressed upon the Government, was of such urgent importance that they convened a special meeting of the Association to consider the subject. The meeting was held in Burlington House on the 17th of February last, when a resolution was passed condemning any return to the old system of transportation. A full report of this meeting was printed and circulated among the members. At a meeting of Council immediately following, the wider question of convict discipline was brought forward, in a series of resolutions, moved by Mr. Hastings, and seconded by Mr. Stephen Cave, M.P.

The Council felt that, however inexpedient it might be, as a general rule, to express definitive opinions upon controverted questions, on this subject so much information had been obtained at successive meetings of the Association, and such a clear preponderance of opinion existed among the members, that it became advisable for them to declare in a public and decisive form the conclusions at which they had arrived; and the resolutions, which were as follow, were unanimously affirmed :

"1. That the failure of the present system of convict discipline in England is chiefly due to the short sentences frequently passed on habitual criminals, the

want of an efficient probationary stage for convicts under sentence, and of police supervision over discharged prisoners.

2. That these defects would be remedied by adopting and carrying out the principles of the convict system which has been so successfully administered in Ireland.

"3. That it is not desirable to attempt any return to the old system of transportation, which, apart from the opposition it would provoke from the colonies, would entail heavy and permanent expense on this country, without producing any adequate advantages, or any results which would not be better, as well as more cheaply, obtained by well regulated convict establishments at home.

"4. That at the same time it is most desirable to encourage the emigration of criminals sentenced to penal servitude, who shall have, by steady industry and labour whilst in prison, or whilst under probation, saved sufficient to enable them to defray the whole or the greater part of their passage-money to any colony they may select."

These resolutions were, by order of the Council, forwarded to the Royal Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Penal Servitude Acts.

In pursuance of the discussion which took place at the London Meeting on the effect of occupation on health, a resolution was passed by the Council, on the motion of Dr. Greenhow, on the 19th of February

"That in the event of any Bill for the extension or amendment of the Acts at present in force for the regulation of labour in factories or mines being brought before either House of Parliament, the Executive Committee be directed to represent to the Government the importance of introducing into such Bill special provisions for obviating conditions known to be dangerous to the health and safety of the operatives employed."

The provisions of a Bill for the Sanitary Improvement of Scottish Towns, and the introduction into Scotland of the principal provisions of the English Local Government Act, having been brought to the notice of the Council, they petitioned the House of Lords in favour of the measure, as calculated to further one of the great objects for which the Association was established-the improvement of the health of the people. In the year 1861, a Deputation was appointed by the Council to wait on the Home Office and the Poor Law Board, with reference to a more efficient system of registering births, deaths, and sickness; and, in consequence of communications received from the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland and the British Medical Association, the present Council, in November last, requested the Deputation to reassemble, and to take such steps as they might think advisable respecting the Registration Bill for Ireland, then in preparation by the Irish Government. The Deputation, accordingly, having added to their number several Irish members, proceeded through those gentlemen to communicate with the Irish Government, and forwarded a statement of their views, which substantially embodied the series of resolutions which were framed by the Special Committee of the Association on Registration and Sanitary Police, and which had been

* This Bill passed into law as 26 & 27 Vict., cap. 60. See Provost Lindsay's paper, p. 488.