Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/1152

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NETHERLANDS

Besides the schools named in the table, there is a great number of special schools, mostly technical. Since 1908 there is also a Government school to train functionaries of the colonial service for superior posts.

In 1917 the State spent on education 3,461,000/. ; the provinces. 48,000/ ; the Communes, 2,O32,000Z.

Of the conscripts called out in 1913, 6 per cent, could neither read nor write, the percentage being highest in Drenthe, 1 '5. Of the persons married in 1918, 0*22 per cent, of the males and0'41 percent, of the females could not sign the marriage certificate. Of the convicts in 1911, 4 per cent, could neither read nor write. Of the total number of children from 7 to 13 years (school age) on January 15, 1919, 4*71 per cent, received no elementary instruction.

Justice and Crime.

Justice is administered by the High Court of the Netherlands (Court of Cassation), by 5 courts of justice (Courts of Appeal), by 23 district tribunals, and by 101 cantonal courts ; trial by jury is unknown in Holland. The Cantonal Court, which deals with minor offences, is formed by a single judge ; the more serious cases are tried by the district tribunals, formed as a rule by 3 judges (in some cases one judge is sufficient) ; the courts are constituted of 3 and the High Court of 5 judges. All Judges are appointed for life by the Sovereign (the Judges of the High Court from a list prepared by the Second Chamber). They can be removed only by a decision of the High Court.

The number of persons convicted was : —

Year

By the Cantonal Courts

By the District Tribunals

Male

Female

Male Female

1915 1910 1917 1918

131,575 145,742 127,459 111,981

13,810 15,373 15,431 15,807

12,387 17,606 25,778 29,028

1,520

3.CS7 4,S34 5.6S0

The numberof inmates in the 28 prisons during the years 1917, 1918, and 1919 was respectively, 12,730, 12,165, and 10,146 males, and 985, 978, and 1,247 females; in the 27 houses of detention, 24,425, 20,812, and 18,682 males, and 2,098, 1,787, and 1,520 females. There are also 5 State-work establishments ; three of which (two for males and one for females) are meant for drunkards, beggars and vagabonds ; two for smugglers (males), of which one was transformed in December, 1918, into an establishment where a trial is being given to the system of imprisonment spent in common agricultural labour. The numbers of inmates of the first three establish- ments were respectively in the years 1917, 1918, and 1919, 1,891, 2,674, and 2,679 males, and 196, 412, and 356 females ; in the five establishments for smugglers there were respectively 6,347, 9,611, and 3,493 inmates (males); in the establishment where a trial is being given to the system of imprison- ment spent in common agricultural labour, there were in the year 1919, 3,676 males.

In 1901 an Act was passed reforming State reformatories for the educa- tion of juvenile criminals and establishing disciplinary schools for juvenile criminals and for children admitted by request of parents or guardians (correction paternelle). The number of inmates during the years 1917 and