Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/443

 JUSTICE AND CRIME — PAUPERISM, ETC. — FINANCE 391

of 1,478 pupils ; 11 'High Schools' with 131 teachers and 1,111 scholars. There were besides 156 private schools, with 896 teachers, and an average daily attendance of 18,305 pupils. The Government grants annually a considerable number of scholarships, tenable for three years, to the various grammar schools. There were 15 technical schools in 1919 with 9,864 distinct students. The receipts amounted to 55,662/., and the expenditure to 64,302/. The Queensland University (established in 1911) in Brisbane had, at the end of 1919, 4 professors and 25 lecturer*, Ac, with 263 students on the roll.

Justice and Crime.

Justice is administered by Supreme Courts, District Courts, and Courts of Petty Sessions. In these last Justices of the Peace sit, presided over in the more important centres by stipendiary magistrates. The Supreme Court consists of a Chief Justice and rive puisne judges. The total number of persons convicted of serious offences by the Superior Courts in 1919 was 254, and the summary convictions at petty sessions in 1919 numbered 14,321 (excluding 5,452 cases of bail estreated). Including penal establish- ments, there were, at the end of 1919, 12 prisons, with 320 male and 13 female prisoners. The total police force, including native troopers, averages about 1,216 men.

Pauperism, Old Age Pensions.

Charitable institutions are maintained by public subscription, si mented by State endowment ; hospitals, benevolent asylums, an institution for the blind, deaf, and dumb, refuges and homes helped. Old Age and Invalidity Pensions are now payable by the Commonwealth. The number of Old Age Pensioners in the State at June 30, 1920, was 15 and of Invalid Pensioners, 4,624. The number of War Pensioners at the same date was 23,133 (including dependents).

Finance.

The following table shows the net revenue and expenditure of Queens- land during five years ending June 30 : —

— 1915-16 1916-17 1917-18 1918-19 1919-20

£ £ £ £ £

Revenue. ' 7,706,365 7,830,893 8,491,482 9,415,543 11,293,743 Expenditure, j 7,671,573 ; 8,134,387 ; 8,900,934. 11,266,910

Estimates 1920-21 : revenue, 12,182,000/. ; expenditure, 12,170.

The gross income from or expenditure on account of Departments under the control of the Commonwealth is not included.

The following were the chief sources from which revenue was received during 1919-20 : — Net amount from Commonwealth, 892,836/. ; stamp duty/ 698,382/.; income tax, 2,023,316/.; licences, 86,068/.; land tax, 459,189/. ; from land — rent, pastoral occupations, 452,741/. ; other rents and sale of land, 805,273/. ; from railways, 4,936,496/.

The chief items of expenditure during 1919-20 were as under: — Interest on public debt, 2,665,548/. ; public instruction, 1,007,582/. ; treasurer's de- partment, 587,S;>0J. ; public hinds department, 269,281/.; department of agriculture, 97,545/. ; cost of working railways, 4,321,726/. The total