856 KEPORT— 1893. 



that bread-winning should go on under circumstances which secure the most com- 

 fortable life for the men, women, and children of the family, which permit the 

 fullest development of all powers, and openly substitute economic co-operation on 

 the part of the wife for economic dependence. 



Such people ground their objections to home work on — 



(1) Danger to public health. 



(2) The low rate of pay in industries where home work prevails. 



As to (1), if existing sanitary laws, properly enforced, do not safeguard the 

 public, then no prohibition of home work would either. 



As to (2), the smaller sum earned by a woman in her home may place her in 

 as good a pecuniary position as the larger sum earned in a factory. 



The advantages of home work outweigh all the drawbacks, because it enables 

 married women to contribute their quota lo household maintenance in the way 

 most congenial to them, and most consistent with home life. 



4. On the Progress of the Newspaper Press, and the Need of Eeform and 

 Consolidation of the Laws affecting it. By Professor J. A. Steahan, 

 M.A., LL.B. 



Statistics shoiving the progress of the newspajJer press. — In 1695 the first daily 

 started in England. In 1712 — when the stamp tax on newspapers was first im- 

 posed — the yearly circulation of newspapers in England was about 2,000,000. In 

 1755 it was about 7,400,000; in 1801, about 16,000,000; in 183G, aboat 

 39,400,000; in 1837 — when the stamp tax was reduced from 3|rf. net to 1^. — 

 about 54,000,000; in 1854— the last year of the stamp tax— about 122,000,000. 

 Since 1854 estimates of circulation must be conjectural, but the great increase in 

 the number of newspapers — from 493 in 1840 to 2,200 in 1893, of persons 

 connected with journalism, e.g., of ' reporters,' from 636 in 1861 to 2,677 ia 

 1881 — shows that newspaper production must have increased enormously. 

 The yearly circulation of the twenty-nine London daily papers must approach 

 1,000,000,000, of the 170 provincial dailies must pass that number. Jiesides 

 these there are now 2,000 weeklies in the United Kingdom, some of which have a 

 weekly circulation approaching a million. 



Legislation affecting newsj)apers. — For the first 150 years after the first daily was 

 started there was practically no legislation specially afiecting newspapers ; during 

 the last fifty years there has been plenty, but most of it has been haphasard and ill- 

 considered. 



Advantages which toould result from codifying law.— (a) The law would be 

 made more intelligible. This is very necessarj-, as the law has frequently to be 

 applied by the editor without the opportunity of legal advice, {b) It would be 

 made less cumbersome, (c) It would be made more efiective. At present it 

 frequently fails to carry out the intentions of the legislature, {d) It would be 

 made more just. At present the journalist has too good grounds of complaint : 

 (1) his liability to vexatious actions for merely technical libels ; (2) his sols 

 liability for defamation appearing in reports of speeches publicly delivered. 

 Suggestions for dealing with these. 



Suggestions for establishing a legally qtialijied profession of journalism. — One 

 probable result of recasting law of the press — an enactment that henceforth no 

 newspaper should be started without a legally qualified editor to conduct it, such 

 editor to be liable to expulsion fiom the profession if shown to be guilty of 

 unprofessional conduct. 



5. On the Census of Foreigners in France. By M. A. de LiiiGEARD. 



G. On Social and Fconomical Heredity. By W. B. Gkakt. 



The evil consequences of folly and wickedness are not exhausted in the sufferings 

 of the individual, but are transmitted to offspring, and the misery and wretched- 



