Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/1397

Rh with 664 students and 79 auditors) and Göteborg (philosophical faculty, with 237 students). In 1911 there were 77 public high schools, with 23,018 pupils; 44 people's high schools, 2,418 pupils; 15 normal schools for elementary school teachers, 1,685 pupils; 2 high and 7 elementary technical schools, about 3,606 pupils; 10 navigation schools, 638 pupils; besides institutions and schools for deaf mutes and the blind; medical schools, military schools, veterinary and other special schools. Public elementary instruction is gratuitous and compulsory, and children not attending schools under the supervision of the Government must furnish proofs of having been privately educated. In 1910 there were 14,894 elementary schools, with 21,585 teachers and 791,545 pupils. In 1910 the expenditure on elementary education was 41,600,768 kronor, of which about one-fourth came from the national funds. Among the recruits (Beväring) of 1910 only 0.23 per cent. were unlettered, only 0.43 per cent, unable to write.

Justice and Crime.

The administration of justice is entirely independent of the Government. Two functionaries, the Justitie-Kansler, or Chancellor of Justice, and the Justitie-Ombudsman, or Attorney-General, exercise a control over the administration. The former, appointed by the King, acts also as a counsel for the Crown; while the latter, who is appointed by the Diet, has to extend a general supervision over all the courts of law. The Kingdom, which possesses one Supreme Court of Judicature, is divided (beginning of 1911) into 3 high court districts and 212 district courts divisions, of which 91 are urban districts and 121 country districts.

In town these district courts (or courts of first instance) are held by the burgomaster and his assessors; in the country by a judge and 12 jurors—peasant proprietors—the judge alone deciding, unless the jurors unanimously differ from him, when their decision prevails. In Sweden trial by jury only exists for affairs of the press.

In 1910, 2,476 men and 251 women were sentenced for serious crimes; at the end of 1910 there were 1,473 hard-labour prisoners.

Pauperism.

Each commune is bound to assist children under 15 years of age, if their circumstances require it, and all who from age or disease are unable to support themselves. In other cases the communal poor board decides what course to take. Each commune and each town (which may be divided) constitutes a poor district, and in each is a board of public assistance. In 1910 these districts possessed workhouses and similar establishments to the number of 1,964, capable of lodging 62,651 people.

The number of paupers assisted was in 1903, 235,277, of whom 78,596 were in the towns; in 1904, 234,639, of whom 78,633 were in the towns; in 1905, 234,602, of whom 79,455 were in the towns; in 1906, 233,896, of whom 82,090 were in the towns; in 1907, 229,693, of whom 82,439 were in the towns; in 1908, 233,530, of whom 87,209 were in the towns; in 1909, 235,955, of whom 89,615 were in the towns; in 1910, 236,918, of whom 90,912 were in the towns.

Finance.

The budget of revenue and expenditure for the year 1913 was as follows (18.16 kronor = 1 £.):—