Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/482

 462 I T A L Y [STATISTICS. Beneficence. A first attempt to form an idea of the number ami nature of the beneficent institutions of Italy was made by the Govern ment in 1862, and the result was published in 1864 in the Cale-ndario f/encrale del Eetjuo. A fuller inquiry was undertaken in 1863 by the board of statistics under the direction of Pictro Maestri, and the in formation was communicated to the public in 15 large volumes pub lished between 1868 and 137:2. According to this inquiry, usually called of 1861, because the data refer to the state of the institutions in that year, the total number of benevolent institutions (exclusive of the proviuce of Rome) was 20,123 (of which 3866 were purely religious foundations^, and their property was valued at 1,100,932, 000 lire. The amount of money annually expended by thess institu tions was about 86,000,000; and on an average 6,305,000, or about a fourth of the population, were recipients of their bounty in one form or other. In 1862 a law was passed by which the control of all public institutions of a charitable nature was placed in the hands of the communal authorities, and these have to appoint a charity committee to superintend the department and balance the accounts. In the case of all institutions subsidized by the state, the accounts must be presented to the minister of the interior ; and to this func tionary is assigned the right of dissolving or reorganizing any institution which the communal authorities report as misdirected or defective. Every institution is obliged to have a regular treasurer, with surety. During the eighteen years that the law has been in force, it has greatly improved the state of matters ; but that there is much room for further improvement appears from the fact that nearly the half of their gross income is of no avail for the special purposes for which they exist. The following details, derived from an admirable report presented by Signor Bodio to the international congress of beneficence in Milan, August 1880, 1 show the present extent of the opere pie, or works of piety. In 1878 there existed in the kingdom 3668 eleemosynary charities, 13 charities for prisoners, 2694 dowry charities, 15 baliatici (charities for poor nursing mothers), 239 asylums for shelter, 16 labour charities (case di lavoro), 1028 founda tions for the assistance of the sick in their own homes, 41 for the assistance of women in childbed in their own homes, 1139 hospitals for the sick, hospitals for chronic patients, 18 maternity hospitals, 15 lunatic asylums, 10 seaside hospitals, 508 school charities, 340 infants asylums, 397 collcgic retiri, 463 orphanages, 17 deaf-mute institutions, 9 blind asylums, 695 monti di picla, 1965 inonti frumentari (offices for furnishing grain to poor peasants in return lor pledges), 30 agrarian loan funds, 102 nursling and foundling institutions, 2633 &quot; congregations of charity,&quot; and 1553 foundations of miscellaneous scope.- These 17,870 institutions being distri buted among 5951 communes, 2431 communes have none of their own ; but the advantages of the institutions are seldom confined to the special communes in which they are situated. The following table (XXXVI.) indicates the gross and the net revenues enjoyed by the opcre pic of each of the compartinienti : Gross Revenue. Per head of pop. Net Revenue. Per head of pop. Piedmont Liguria lire. 13,510,514 4,308.580 20 895,403 lire. 4-66 5-11 6-04 lire. 7,911,155 2,057,642 10,634,980 lire. 2-73 2-43 3-07 6,989 415 263 3,301,209 1-25 Emilia Tuscany Marches 8,090,459 5,825,091 2,485,702 2 83 2-71 2-72 4,361,439 3,027,174 1,349,887 206 141 1-47 1,662,243 3-02 896,341 1-63 6,180,813 7-38 3,348,049 4-00 Abruzzi and Molise. . . 1,342,927 9,725,328 1-04 3-53 016,252 4,823 390 0-48 175 2.251,387 1-58 1,138,304 0-80 Basiiicata 417,583 087 219,443 0-42 548,835 0-45 281,391 0-23 5,470,835 2-12 2,829,054 1-10 Sardinia 515,395 0-81 314,480 0-49 Total 90 859,521 3-39 47,110,208 1-75 1 Classifying the institutions, the following results appear, the amounts being stated in thousands of lire (Table XXXVII.) : Institutions. Pa ri- mony. Gross Revenue Patrimo nial bur dens, &amp;lt;fcc. Taxes. Cost of admini stration. Revenue avail able. Eleemosynary Ilospit;;! 394,421 5&amp;lt;;0 270 22,189 30 4.54 3,559 4258 3,429 5 553 3,672 4 47 11,527 10 170 Credit 128 443 8 180 3 390 82 2 3% 1 575 Kduca ional Miscellaneous 370,198 107,323 20.795 9,233 2.072 921 3,373 1,305 3,087 1,432 12,261 5,574 Total 1,020,063 90,859 14,202 14,484 15.HCL 47,110 The following table (XXXVIII.) gives the returns for 1877 for the lunatic asylums of Italy : 1 Printed in Archirio di Stcitistica, 1880, fasc. iv. 2 It is to be observed that this list does not include those institutions which arc still, like the great Cottolcngo Hosiiit.il at Turin, under the direct control of their founders. Asylur.,s or Hospitals. Males. Females. ; Total. Proportion per 100,000. 6 2 Jl ! I 4 1 1 1 1,033 323 1 ,370 729 1,167 Ifil 41)7 951 387 949 801 1,366 960 1,103 96 395 1,007 328 460 264 4t 1,894 596 2,736 1,695 2,270 257 892 1,958 715 1,409 629 122 62-02 07-65 00-75 KW82 45-05 94-70 88-62 84-57 IS -85 22-71 18-39 Emilia Marches Tufcanv Sicily Sardinia 57 8,010 7,163 15,173 54-17 It appears that the number of asylums is deficient in the Napo- letano and in Sicily and Sardinia, while of all the regions Emilia and the Marches are the best supplied. Of the institutions included in the table, some are maintained by the provinces, such as those of Cuneo, Alessandria, Bergamo, &e., others by the municipalities, others again by private individuals. Among the larger establish ments are the public asylums of Genoa (Manicomio pubblico}, Milan, Aversa (819 inmates), Rome (715), Siena (791), Florence (712). A r enice has separate establishments for its male and female lunatics. The idea of establishing seaside hospitals to which patients could be taken from the inland districts for change of air has been carried into effect more extensively in Italy than in most other countries. Such institutions exist at Yiareggio (since 1856), A oltri (1862 Fano (1863), Leghorn (1864), Sestri Levante (1867), Porto d Anzio (1868), Venice (1868), Porto S. Stefano (1870), Rimini (18701, Riccione(187l), Loano (1871), Celle (1872), Grado (1873), Palermo (1874), Pisa (Bocca d Arno, 1876), Cagliari (1879). In many cases a very considerable number of communes have the right of sending their patients to a given hospital ; that of Loano for instance receives from thirty-four communes which have committees of trans mission. See Dr Gaetano Pini, &quot;Gli ospizi marini e le scuole pel rachitici in Italia&quot; in Atti del VI. Cungrcsso dell Associaziunc medico, italiana, Turin, 1877. Administration of Justice. Though, in the opinion of the most competent judges, Italy is still in the main free from that curse of civilized countries, a distinctly differentiated criminal class, there is hardly a country of Europe which presents from year to year such appalling tables of criminality. Leaving out of view the question of brigandage which is of moment only in the southern provinces, where through long inertness the arm of the law had become com paratively powerless crimes of violence are exceptionally frequent, and (to take the statistics of 1S75) the number of persons under going punishment in a given year is in the ratio of 175 51 for every 100,000 inhabitants, in proportion to population there are four times as many persons condemned to death or penal servitude for life as in France, twice as many to hard labour, five times as many to solitary confinement. And it cannot be said that that part of the administration whose duty it is to deal with this multitude of law breakers is in a state of competent efficiency. Trial by jury is in force, but there seems good reason to question the fitness of a large part of th population for the exercise of the functions thus devolved upon them. &quot;Not guilty with extenuating circumstances &quot; is an amusing but suggestive verdict. Though according to the law of 1865 there is only to be one court of cassation in the country, as an actual fact there are five, as follows (Table XXXIX.) : Courts of Cassation. Courts of Appeal. l Turin, Brescia. Castile. Genoa, Miiun, Parma and rum :&quot;i Modenru Florence i Florence, Lucca, Venice. Naples I Xaples and Potenza. Aiaiila, Cahmzaro. Tn.ni. Palermo [ Palermo, Catania, Messina. Home Rome. Ancona-Macerata, Bologna, Ca^mr:, IVrutfi,&quot;. The Roman court of cassation was instituted only in 1876, the Roman court of appeal having previously been dependent on Flor ence, and those of Ancona-Macerata, Bologna, and Cagliari on Turin. The number of courts of assize varies from year to year, ac cording to royal decree: in 1874 there were 86, in 1876, 92. Of civil and correctional tribunals there are 162, and of &quot;prsetors&quot; 1813. The prtetors are both civil and criminal judges ; in the civil de partment they can decide in all cases involving less than 1500 lire. It is considered part of their duty to endeavour to bring liti gants tc terms without proceeding to formal trial ; and, that this desirable object may be more frequently secured, a special class of judges or arbitrators, known as conciliator! of ancient establish ment in the Neapolitan provinces was rendered common to all Italy at the legislative unification of 18C5. At the request of parties in dispute, they may deal with cases involving any amount, but their decisions are final only as far as 30 lire, and they have no control any more than the praetors of questions affecting tho taxes. The value of this class of functionaries is evident from tho fact that in 1875, for example, about 25 per cent, of the cases prc-
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