INSTRUCTION — JUSTICE AND CRIME — FINANCE
327
Instruction.
Primary secular education is free and by tlie State compulsory. Of the census population in 1911, 498,939 could read and write ; 3,338 could read only ; 93,193 could not read (including 73,704 children under 5 years of age) ; 10,343 not specified. According to the marriage statistics for 1911, 99*07 per cent, of persons married during 1911, were able to read and write. The Public Expenditure on account of education for the year 1911 was 430, 513^. At the end of 1911 there were 1,254 public elementary schools in operation, with 2,750 teachers, and an average daily attendance of 70,194 pupils. Secondary education is "provided for by 10 grammar schools, 6 for boys and 4 for girls, with, in 1911, 91 teachers and an average attendance of 1,146 pupils. There were also 131 private schools, with 638 teachers, and an average daily attendance of 12,414 pupils. The Government grants annually a considerable number of scholarships, tenable for three years, to the various grammar schools. There were 16 technical schools in 1911 with 7,089 distinct students. The receipts amounted to 22,180Z., and the expenditure to 29,265Z. The Queensland University (established in 1911) in Brisbane had at the end of 1911, 4 professors and 15 lecturers, &c,, Avith 81 students on the roll.
Justice and Crime.
Justice is administered by Supreme Courts, District Courts, and Courts ol 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 four puisnejudges. The total number of persons convicted of serious offences by theSuperior Courts in 1911 was 328, and the summary con- victions at petty sessions numbered 18,831 (excluding 4,241 cases of bail estreated). Including penal establishments, there Avere, at the end of 1911, 12 prisons, with 433 male and 37 female prisoners. The total police force, including native troopers, averages about 1,106 men.
Pauperism, Old Age Pensions.
Charitable institutions are maintained by public subscription, supple- mented by State endowment ; hospitals, benevolent asylums, an institution for the blind, deaf, and dumb, refuges and homes helped. Persons suffering from Avant Avere relieved at an expenditure of 8,188Z. in 1911, at the cost of the State. 3,359 orphans and other homeless and unpro- tected children Avere provided for chiefly by the Government at a cost of 36,104Z. Old Age and Invalidity Pensions are uoav payable by the Common- Avealth, The number of Old Age Pensioners in the State at December 13, 1912, Avas 10,666, and of Invalid Pensioners, 1,230.
Finance.
The following table shows the net revenue and expenditure of Queens- land during fiA'"e years ending June 30 : —
-
1908-09
1909-10
£ 5,119,253 5,113,578
1910-11 1911-12
1912-13 Estimated
Revenue Expendituie .
£ 4,766,244 4,756,304
£ £ 5,320,008 5,989,347 5,314,737 5,965,692
£ 6,268,302 6,262,633
