STATE PAPERS. 



369 



liis expectation. " The chaplain 

 feels much j)leasure in closing his 

 journal at the expiration of tlie 

 year, with stating, that the gene- 

 ral conduct of the prisoners during 

 their continement in the peniten- 

 tiary has been most satisfactory. 

 The repentance and amendment 

 of many of them is visible; and 

 there is every reason to piesume, 

 that on their leaving the prison 

 tliey will become honest and in- 

 dustrious members of society." 



Your committee are fully aware 

 of the expense which the plan of 

 building a new prison will entail 

 on the finances of the country, 

 but they cannot consider the cost 

 entirely additional, or one of which, 

 if the object to be attained is 

 biought into account, the public 

 can have any right to complain. 

 At present the children committed 

 to the different prisons are main- 

 tained at the county or city charges. 

 And your committee do not pro- 

 pose to shift that cost on the pub- 

 lic treasury; they have been in- 

 formed by persons who have taken 

 pains to obtain a correct estimate 

 as to the expense of the mainte- 

 nance of prisoners, that on an 

 average, the cost at the Piiilan- 

 thropic, the Refuge for the Desti- 

 tute, and the common prisons, 

 may be taken at 12i. per annum ; 

 and that pai t of that expense may 

 be defrayed by the labours of the 

 prisoners. 



Upon the important question of 

 emplov ing convicts in the different 

 prisons, as well as on board the 

 hulks, both as to the moral no 

 less than the economical conse- 

 quences, your committee at pre- 

 sent wish to give no decisive opi- 

 nion. They, however, entertain 

 little donbt that the whole system 



Vol. LIX. 



of maintaining the convicts of the 

 country is susceptible of great 

 improvement, and they trust they 

 shall be enabled to enter more 

 fully into tliat subject eaily in the 

 ensuing session. 



Your committee feel conscious 

 that they have not made as full a 

 report upon the various subjects of 

 their inquiries as perhaps might 

 have been expected from them ; 

 they have thought fit to separate 

 these subjects into distinct heads, 

 and they have brought them before 

 the House in the order of theii: 

 importance. There are, however, 

 many points which they are anxi- 

 ous to take into their sei ious con- 

 sideration ; viz. the establishments 

 of the police; the attendance of 

 the magistrates ; the duties of the 

 inferior paiish officers ; the state 

 of the public streets; the laws 

 concerning the suppression of dis- 

 orderly houses ; all of them are, 

 in their view, objects of great pub- 

 lic importance; and in order to 

 bring them in the most advan- 

 tageous manner under the view 

 and consideration of parliament, 

 your committee trust they shall be 

 permitted to renew their labours 

 in the ensuing session. 



EiTESTS IN AID. 



The Select Committee appointed 

 to inquire into the mode of is- 

 suing Extents in Aid, the nature 

 of the Process, its effects, and 

 the expediency of regulating or 

 of discontinuing the same, and 

 to report their observations 

 thereupon to the House, toge- 

 ther with the Minutes of the 

 Evidence taken before them ; 

 and to whom the several pcti- 

 2 li tions 



