Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/874

 518 FRANCE

persons and institutions. The Central Prisons {maisons deforce et de correc- tion), where all prisoners condemned to more than one year's imprisonment are kejrt, provided with large industrial establishments for the work of prisoners, are 14 for men and 3 for women. To the same category belong 2 agricultural penitentiaries for men in Corsica,

All persons condemned to hard labour and many condemned to ' reclusion ' are sent to New Caledonia or Guiana (military and ricidivistes) ; the dep6t dc formats of St. Martin-de-Re is a depot for transferred hard-labour convicts. The prison population in France and Algeria on December 31, 1895, consisted of 10,841 men and 1,260 women condemned to lengthened imprisonment, 21,579 men and 3,381 women condemned to short imprisonment ; 5,235 boys and 1,152 girls in reformatories, 46 prisoners in houses of arrest, and 206 in the depot for hard labour prisoners; total 43,700 prisoners. There are about 13,000 in New Caledonia and Guiana,

Pauperism.

There is no Government system of poor relief in France, The poor are assisted partly through public ' bureaux de bienfaisance ' and partly by private and ecclesiastical charity. They are partly under the care of the communes and partly of the departments, both of which contribute, and ultimately under the supei-vision of Government, The funds of the ' bureaux de bienfaisance ' are partly derived from endowments, partly from communal contributions, and partly from public and private charity. In 1895 there were 15,227 of such bureaux, with a total revenue of 41,739,847 francs, the expenditure amounting to 40,629,777 francs. Public assistance is also ren- dered to poor or destitute children. At the end of 1895 there were 1,868 .sick children in hospital, 88,334 domiciled in the country, and 46,177 who were being assisted at their homes, the total expenditure for the year amounting to 24,566,421 francs. There are 1,694 public establishments for the sick and for aged persons and imbeciles, receiving during the year 559,435 sick and infirm persons. The amount contributed in 1895 to institutions for public charity was 33,776,702 francs.

Finance. I. State Finance.

The ordinary revenue of France is derived chiefly from direct and indirect taxation and from State factories and monopolies. About 16 per cent, of the revenue is from direct taxes, of which the more important are the real property tax {contrihiition foncierc) levied on lands and on buildings ; trade licences, and a variety of taxes, including taxes on property in mortmain, royalties from mines, taxes on carriages and horses, verification of weights and measures, the military tax, and the tax on velocipedes. About 59 per cent, of the revenue is from indirect taxes, of which the most important are those on registration (of changes in the ownership of property, obligations, &c.), stamps, customs ; the State monopolies and domains yield about 20 per cent, of the revenue. For departmental and communal purposes 'additional centimes' are levied in association with both branches of the land tax and with the personal and property tax, doors and windows tax, trade licences, and taxes on carriages, horses, velocipedes.

The provisional result of the budget for France in 1897 was : revt^nue, 3,467,674,327 francs ; expenditure, 3,451,488,378 francs ; surplus, 16,185,949 francs. On the other hand, the revenue of Algeria amounted to 60,2»il, 078 francs ; the expenditure to 72,515,596 francs ; showing a deficit of 12,254,518 francs. The total surplus was thus reduced to 3,931,431 francs,