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maintenance of every juvenile offender, viz: £7 per annum, be paid by the Government.
14. I subjoin some general reflections.
(a) From an educational point of view it is generally considered that the best plan for working delinquents is to make them a part of the public penal apparatus, e.g., the Reformatory School for the reception and training of juvenile offenders.
(b) This principle finds but partial recognition by the above proposed arrangement with the so-called Reformatory of Bishop Raimondi, and would require a special Government institution to be started for the purpose.
(c) But the organization of a Government Reformatory school would be a very costly experiment; say, for 50 offenders, Master's salary $1,440, Assistants $240 + $240, house rent $720, coal £4, furniture $200, food and clothes $4,200, total $7,084 per annum, besides being dependent on the capabilities of the staff.
(d) There being no private educational agency in the Colony likely to start a Reformatory, there is no other alternative possible but either to come to terms with Bishop Raimondi or to start a Government Reformatory.
The Bishop's Reformatory is in charge of an educational brotherhood (St. Joseph's) having a sufficient and experienced staff. Almost all juvenile offenders, being Chinese (who have no relatives here), are repudiated there.
The question provided for by sub-section 12 of the Reformatory School's Ordinance will cause difficulty.