THE BELGIAN BEGGARS' DEPOTS.
The legislation of Belgium for the treatment of vagrants and mendicants
experimented in many directions before it established forced Labour
Houses and Colonies for the detention of these offenders. As early as
1793, during the Dutch connection, a Decree (October 15) was issued,
making vagrancy and mendicancy misdemeanours punishable by detention
in a house of correction for one year, while vagrants on a second
conviction, and beggars on a third, were liable to transportation. A
law of July 5, 1808, again formally prohibited begging, and provided
for the detention of offenders in forced Labour Houses; and the Penal
Code of October 12, 1810, awarded imprisonment, followed by Labour
House detention, to loafers generally. The last-named law does not
appear to have been stringently enforced, and it was relaxed in 1848,
in consequence of which act vagrancy and begging increased. The
result was a new law of March 6, 1866, imposing heavier penalties on
able-bodied loafers of all kinds, though vagrancy was punished more
severely than simple mendicancy. By reason of this law some of the
old Labour Houses were abolished, and a large central institution
was established at Merxplas, in the Province of Flanders, for the
detention of all classes of offenders for disciplinary treatment. A
little later the penalties for vagrancy and begging were reduced, and
a more radical amendment of the law took place in 1891, the effect of
which was to take away from these offences a penal character.
Under this law, the beggar, the tramp, and the loafer are dealt with
at the present time. The great difference between the original Belgian
Labour Houses and the Beggars' Depots of to-day lies in the fact that
the earlier institutions were managed by philanthropic associations,
while those existing to-day are State establishments, and form part of
the judicial system of the country.
The law of November 27, 1891[54] (which came into force on January
4, 1892), for the repression of vagrancy and mendicity required the
Government to organise correctional institutions of three kinds,
_viz._: (_a_) Beggars' Depots (_dépôts de mendicité_); (_b_) Houses
of Refuge (_maisons de refuge_), and Reformatory Schools (_écoles de
bienfaisance_). The institutions of the first two kinds are commonly
spoken of as Labour Houses or Colonies in Belgium. There are two
Beggars' Depots, the central one for men at Merxplas, near Antwerp, and
a small one for women at Bruges; and there are three Houses of Refuge,
_viz._, Wortel and Hoogstraeten (managed as one establishment) for men,
and one at Bruges for women.
[Footnote 54: For the full text of the law see Appendix III., pp.
258-263.]
The law states that the Beggars' Depots shall be "exclusively devoted
to the confinement of persons whom the Judicial Authority shall place
at the disposal of the Government" for that purpose. Such persons are
of the following classes: (_a_) Able-bodied persons who, instead of
working for their living, depend upon charity as professional beggars;
(_b_) persons who, owing to idleness, drunkenness, or immorality,
live in a state of vagrancy; and (_c_) _souteneurs_. These persons
may be committed by the magistrates for a period not less than two
nor more than seven years. Moreover, vagrants and beggars who have
been sentenced by a Correctional Court to imprisonment for less than
a year, may be ordered to undergo detention in a Depot at the end of
the sentence for not less than one year or more than seven years, just
as offenders of the same kind are sent to Labour Houses in Germany
and Austria after undergoing imprisonment. It is provided, however,
that the Minister of Justice may, at any time, order the release
of persons confined in a Depot, should he be of opinion that their
further confinement is unnecessary. In order to give the loafer a
chance of voluntary reformation, he is on a first conviction sent to
a House of Refuge by way of probation for a period not exceeding one
year, or until he shall have earned 12s. On re-conviction, his certain
destination is the Depot of Merxplas, with its severer discipline. The
House of Refuge is provided for the reception of (_a_) persons handed
over by a Judicial Authority to the Government for simple detention,
and (_b_) persons whose restraint may be asked for by a Communal
Authority, though those of the latter class must enter of their own
free will if over eighteen years of age. In general, the House of
Refuge is intended for vagrants, mendicants, loafers, and dissolute
persons who are not thought to deserve the treatment of incorrigible
offenders. The voluntary inmates correspond very closely to the typical
unemployed person who applies for task work in our English workhouses.
In no case may detention exceed a year, unless with the detainee's
acquiescence, and as in the case of the Beggars' Depots, the Minister
of Justice may order the immediate discharge of any person whose
further confinement may appear to him unnecessary.
In the institutions of both types small daily wages are paid, except
when withdrawn as a measure of discipline, and a portion of every man's
earnings is put away as a leaving fund (_masse de sortie_), to be paid
out to him in cash, clothing and tools. In no case is a well behaving
colonist allowed to leave penniless. A minimum sum of 4s. is given
to every such man, whether he has earned it or not; those guilty of
misconduct or idleness take away their savings, however small, and no
more. The Minister of Justice approves the scale of payment for every
class of work in the two institutions.
The cost of maintenance of persons sent by a judicial authority to
the Depot or House of Refuge is borne, in equal shares, by the State,
the Provinces, and the Communes in which the persons have their
settlement, but infirm persons are maintained altogether by their
settlement communes, which likewise bear the whole cost in the case of
persons detained in a House of Refuge at their own request. Where a
person, detained by judicial decision, has no settlement, the costs of
maintenance fall on the province in which he was arrested or brought
before the Court; in the case of _souteneurs_ the cost is borne by the
Communes in which they pursued their practices. Costs of maintenance
can, however, be recovered from the persons concerned, or those legally
liable for their support.
The following were the admissions in the Beggars' Depots and the Houses
of Refuge for the first fifteen years after the Act came into force:--
ADMISSIONS TO BEGGARS' DEPOTS.
-------+--------------------------------+------------
| Number of Admissions. | Mean
| | Number
Year. +---------+-----------+----------+ of
| Male. | Female. | Total. | Inmates.
-------+---------+-----------+----------+------------
| | | |
1892 | 6,147 | 666 | 6,813 | 3,564
1893 | 3,482 | 352 | 3,834 | 4,324
1894 | 4,141 | 393 | 4,534 | 4,193
1895 | 3,722 | 333 | 4,055 | 4,529
1896 | 3,224 | 292 | 3,516 | 4,430
1897 | 3,115 | 266 | 3,381 | 4,076
1898 | 3,339 | 284 | 3,623 | 4,208
1899 | 3,018 | 215 | 3,233 | 4,248
1900 | 3,547 | 253 | 3,800 | 4,058
1901 | 4,348 | 275 | 4,623 | 4,542
1902 | 4,514 | 252 | 4,766 | 4,865
1903 | 4,649 | 386 | 5,035 | 5,054
1904 | 4,615 | 275 | 4,890 | 5,132
1905 | 4,624 | 260 | 4,884 | 5,450
1906 | 4,426 | 268 | 4,694 | 5,351
-------+---------+-----------+----------+------------
ADMISSIONS TO HOUSES OF REFUGE.
-------+--------------------------------+------------
| Number of Admissions. | Mean
| | Number
Year. +---------+-----------+----------+ of
| Male. | Female. | Total. | Inmates.
-------+---------+-----------+----------+------------
| | | |
1892 | 6,139 | 775 | 6,914 | 2,043
1893 | 4,411 | 942 | 5,353 | 2,145
1894 | 4,593 | 519 | 5,112 | 2,902
1895 | 4,559 | 414 | 4,973 | 2,766
1896 | 3,805 | 360 | 4,165 | 2,314
1897 | 3,745 | 323 | 4,068 | 1,876
1898 | 3,770 | 343 | 4,113 | 1,983
1899 | 3,398 | 258 | 3,656 | 1,823
1900 | 3,586 | 266 | 3,852 | 1,691
1901 | 4,174 | 261 | 4,435 | 1,761
1902 | 4,389 | 252 | 4,641 | 1,876
1903 | 3,428 | 278 | 3,706 | 1,733
1904 | 3,546 | 221 | 3,767 | 1,620
1905 | 3,057 | 195 | 3,252 | 1,352
1906 | 2,505 | 184 | 2,689 | 1,176
-------+---------+-----------+----------+-------------
The Labour Colony of Merxplas is unique as a centralised State
reformatory for loafers, and, owing to its large extent, the excellence
of its arrangements, and not least, the rational principles upon which
it is administered, it fully deserves the study and the praise which
have been bestowed upon it by foreign observers. On the whole, it would
seem to correspond more nearly than any other Continental institution
for forced labour to the special needs of this country.
The buildings of Merxplas are grouped together in convenient positions,
and are of a very substantial kind. The principal blocks contain the
offices, the several classes of dormitories, the workshops, the stores,
the exercise wings, the dining hall, the church, the hospital, the
prison, and the barracks, for a small guard of 150 men is stationed
on the premises for cases of emergency. Well-made roads intersect the
grounds in various directions, and there is a large amount of open
space.
The inmates of Merxplas are divided into six classes: (1) Men sentenced
for offences against morality and for arson; (2) men sentenced to
Colony life as a sequel to a term of imprisonment of less than one
year, and men whose past history shows them to be dangerous to the
community; (3) habitual vagabonds, mendicants, inebriates, and men
generally unable to support themselves; (4) men under twenty-one years
of age; (5) infirm and incurable persons; and (6) first offenders. In
December, 1907, the inmates were divided amongst these classes in the
following proportions: (1) 169; (2) 328; (3) 3,033; (4) 20; (5) 1,425;
(6) 40; total, 5,015.
The men in Classes (1) and (2) are detained in special quarters, and
under special supervision, and work apart from the rest, with whom they
have no intercourse whatever, being, in fact, treated as criminals.
The only difference between Classes (3) and (4) in regard to treatment
is that the younger men are kept separate from the older, and that a
portion of their time is devoted to school. The infirm in Class (5)
are able to do light work, while the incurables do none. Class (6)
explains itself. All the offenders, except those in Class (5), are
allowed to earn wages on the scale applying to their employment; those
in Class (6) are given canteen money of 3 centimes per day for the
purchase of small luxuries. As has been explained, the minimum sentence
of detention is two years, but owing to the exercise of the Minister's
prerogative of pardon, the average term of confinement is about sixteen
months.
The small staff of eighty warders (with the military guard to fall
back upon), under a chief director and two deputy directors, is found
sufficient to control the movements of this great army of "irregulars";
in addition, there are one doctor, two priests, five teachers, nineteen
clerks, one manufacturing manager, and six sisters of mercy. Many
reliable men are, however, chosen from the ranks of the prisoners to
assist in the superintendence of work.
The offenders dealt with during the seven years 1902 to 1908 were as
follows:--
MERXPLAS BEGGARS' DEPOT (MEN).
---------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1902. | 1903. | 1904. | 1905. | 1906. | 1907. | 1908.
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Admitted | 4,514 | 4,649 | 4,615 | 4,624 | 4,426 | 4,212 | 4,431
Discharged | 2,847 | 2,922 | 2,827 | 2,666 | 2,935 | 2,792 | 2,282
Transferred | 501 | 452 | 514 | 439 | 504 | 464 | 478
Absconded | 879 | 1,004 | 1,066 | 1,243 | 1,031 | 919 | 1,055
Died | 125 | 108 | 112 | 94 | 136 | 134 | 139
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Total | 4,352 | 4,486 | 4,519 | 4,442 | 4,606 | 4,309 | 3,954
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Detained on | 4,851 | 5,014 | 5,110 | 5,292 | 5,112 | 5,015 | 5,492
December 31 | | | | | | |
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The admissions shown above included the reinstatements (of inmates
escaped) after capture, and the admissions by transfer from other
institutions. The direct admissions, the admissions by transfer, and
the reinstatements after escape are here shown separately for the
years 1901 to 1908:--
---------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
| 1901. | 1902. | 1903. | 1904. | 1905. | 1906.
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
Admitted direct | 3,280 | 3,390 | 3,460 | 3,316 | 3,186 | 3,071
discharged owing to expiration | | | | | |
of sentence and Ministerial | | | | | |
decision, conducted to the | | | | | |
frontier, and deceased | 2,463 | 2,972 | 3,030 | 2,939 | 2,760 | 3,071
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
Admitted by transfer | 391 | 353 | 305 | 366 | 341 | 431
Discharged by transfer | 530 | 501 | 452 | 514 | 439 | 504
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
Reinstated after escape | 677 | 771 | 884 | 933 | 1,097 | 924
Escaped | 769 | 879 | 1,004 | 1,066 | 1,243 | 1,031
---------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
Those "placed at the disposition of the Government" (for commitment
to the Merxplas Depot) under the law of November 27, 1891, during the
years 1901 to 1906 belonged to the following classes:--
-----------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
| 1901. | 1902. | 1903. | 1904. | 1905. | 1906.
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
Able-bodied beggars and vagrants | | | | | |
(Article 13) | 4,314 | 4,509 | 4,637 | 4,614 | 4,618 | 4,419
Able-bodied beggars and vagrants | | | | | |
for detention supplementary to | | | | | |
imprisonment (Article 14) | 14 | 5 | 12 | 1 | 6 | 7
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
| 4,348 | 4,514 | 4,649 | 4,615 | 4,624 | 4,426
Deduct reinstatements after escape | 677 | 771 | 884 | 933 | 1,097 | 924
-----------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
The following further table shows the frequency of commitment during a
series of years:--
------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
Number of Times | | | | | | |
Committed. | 1902. | 1903. | 1904. | 1905. | 1906. | 1907. | 1908.
------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
For the first time | 674 | 668 | 558 | 517 | 547 | 519 | 720
For the second time | 546 | 585 | 552 | 595 | 522 | 442 | 561
For the third time | 493 | 472 | 582 | 516 | 488 | 433 | 465
For the fourth time | 446 | 470 | 455 | 406 | 420 | 406 | 425
For the fifth time or oftener | 2,355 | 2,454 | 2,468 | 2,590 | 2,449 | 2,412 | 2,260
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
Total number of | | | | | | |
admissions | 4,514 | 4,649 | 4,615 | 4,624 | 4,426 | 4,212 | 4,431
------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
The whole of the men capable of working, either much or little, are
employed according to their aptitudes and physical capacity, either in
farm and land work, in the workshops, in domestic work in and around
the establishment, or in the service of outside employers. On a given
day in 1907, 1,279 men were engaged on the farm and land, 1,970 in
industrial work for the profit of the Colony, 811 in domestic work, and
525 were lent to other institutions.
The men engaged in the fields work in gangs of between fifty and sixty,
each under a single overseer. Shelters exist for their accommodation
in wet weather, and when it is impossible to do outside work they are
employed in the workshops.
The trades and occupations are very numerous, but the principal
are brick, pipe and tile making, iron founding, button making,
wood-working, mat, boot, and shoe making, weaving, tanning, tailoring,
carpentering, and printing.
Several years ago, a Committee appointed by the Lindsey (Lincoln)
Quarter Sessions visited Merxplas and reported as follows upon what
they saw of the workshops:--[55]
[Footnote 55: Report of the Vagrancy Committee adopted by the Court of
Quarter Sessions (Lincolnshire, Parts of Lindsey) on Friday, October
23, 1903.]
"Each shop was under a trade instructor. The men appeared to be
working cheerfully and diligently. As wages were higher in the shops,
we were told that it was made a privilege to work there. All the shops
were large and airy, and the following were the principal industries
being carried on at the time of our visit.
"In the ironfoundry they were making their own patterns, doing their
own casting, turning, and finishing for everything in the way of metal
used in the establishment, from cast iron window frames to brass pumps.
"Next to this was a very large shop for making cement tiles, working
for outside firms on a recently invented system of employing hydraulic
cement and colours to furnish tiles of elaborate colouring and
patterns. This shop was on a large scale, and doing remunerative work,
and impressed us very much.
"The mat making shop was of the ordinary kind, but on a very large
scale. Every description of mat, from the sennet to the thick pile mat
worked in patterns, was made.
"The weaving shop presented an interesting industry, which could
be easily learned by the unskilled, namely that of making yarn of
cowhair, which is afterwards worked into carpets. Other men were busy
spinning the thread for the warp of the cloth used for the colonists'
clothes. A large portion of this shop was also occupied by hand-looms
in full work, where the cloth itself was being woven.
"The button shop, for making mother of pearl buttons for the outside
trade, has been newly started. This shop formed an exception, in that
all the lathes were bought from outside, none being made at Merxplas.
"In the carpenters' shop was a prison van which was made entirely by
colonist labour, with the one exception of the springs. There was an
order on hand for 1,100 window frames for a new prison. We also saw
there some excellent furniture, large numbers of chairs, travelling
trunks, and cabinet work of all kinds.
"The cobblers were busy on boots for the Army, which were hand-made
throughout. Here they were also making hospital shoes from the selvage
of cloth woven on a block; a very ingenious method of utilising waste
material.
"All the printing required for the colonies is also done in a printing
shop.
"In another small shop about twenty men were employed in making fine
chains for sham jewellery.
"The brick works were large, employing thirty-six men at brick-making,
exclusive of those employed at the furnaces, and the clay-getters. The
usual number of bricks made was about 70,000 daily, the men being paid
15 centimes (1·4_d._) per 1,000.
"On an equally large scale was the making of cement conduit pipes. The
cement is made at a factory in the neighbourhood, and the white sand
is also bought.
"After visiting the brickworks we passed through small shops of
stone-masons and sculptors to the pottery and the tannery. The last
had a large number of hides in preparation, and uses bark from the
trees of the estate, but not exclusively.
"To the north of the workshops the three-winged building is a store.
Here we saw a quantity of bar iron, one of the few materials that
Merxplas cannot itself produce.
"Here was also the clothing store. The cloth is made throughout by
the colonists, with the one exception of the 'fulling' process, which
requires special machinery. The material was of several different
kinds, including two varieties for officers' uniform, and all that
is required for the winter and summer clothing of the colonists.
Civilian clothes and tools, also made in the colony, can be purchased
by the colonists when they are liberated. In the centre were several
large rooms full of the private clothes and other belongings of the
colonists, each in their own bag, and all remarkably free from any
offensive odour.
"The farming seemed to be carried on on the same excellent principles
as the workshops. The crops of maize and hemp were remarkably tall
(the latter supplies the raw material for rope making), and the fields
generally seemed thoroughly worked and tilled. The cowhouse and
piggeries were very clean, and all the buildings were of excellent
design and well-built. A large number of horses and oxen are kept for
farm work, as not much spade cultivation is used. There is a large
herd of milking cows to supply the hospital, and a considerable number
of young stock and sheep are also kept, the latter being housed and
hand-fed in winter. The whole of the products are consumed in the
colony, and, as is the practice in the shops, very little machinery is
used, whilst a large amount of labour is employed in bringing fresh
ground under cultivation. The sandy top-soil is first removed and
immense quantities of Antwerp street sweepings and clay rubbish are
put on. Large gangs are also employed in hand-weeding, and all the
advantages of farming with abundance of cheap labour are conspicuous."
The accounts of a recent year show proceeds of trades as follows: Mat
making, £4,200; weaving, £5,753; shoe making, £1,324; brick paving,
£1,266; forge and foundry, £1,847; tobacco, £1,671; tanning, £1,852;
tailoring, £3,600; furniture, £1,346, and brick making, £1,913. The
profits on twenty-six trades in 1907 were said to be £4,072.
The usual work-day consists of about ten hours in summer, and between
seven and nine in winter, broken by three intervals for meals and rest.
The day's routine is as follows:--
SUMMER.
--------------------+------------------+------------------
_Week-days._ | April 1 to | September 16
| September 15. | to October 31.
| |
Rise | 4.30 a.m. | 5.0 a.m.
Distribution of | |
bread | 5.0 " | 5.30 "
Work | 5.45 " | 6.15 "
Doctor's visit | 7.0 " | 7.0 "
First meal and rest | 8.0 " | 8.0 "
Work | 8.30 " | 8.30 "
Director's report | 10.0 " | 10.0 "
Second meal--in | { 10.40 " | 10.40 "
two parties | { 11.40 " | 11.40 "
Work | 1.15 p.m. | 1.15 p.m.
Rest | 4.0 " | 4.0 "
Work | 4.30 " | 4.30 "
Third meal | 6.45 " | 6.45 "
Bed | 7.0 " | 7.0 "
_Sunday._ | |
General medical | |
inspection | After mass. | After mass.
Mass | 7.0 and 8.0 a.m. | 7.0 and 8.0 a.m.
Vespers | 2.30 p.m. | 2.30 p.m.
--------------------+------------------+------------------
WINTER.
----------------------+------------------+-----------------
| November 1 to | February 16
_Weekdays._ | February 15. | to March 31
Rise | 6.0 a.m. | 5.30 a.m.
Distribution of | |
bread and coffee | 6.30 " | 6.0 "
Work | 7.15 " | 6.45 "
Doctor's visit | 8.0 " | 8.0 "
Director's report | 10.0 " | 10.0 "
Second meal--in | { 10.40 " | 10.40 "
two parties | { 11.40 " | 11.40 "
Work | 1.15 p.m. | 1 15 p.m.
Third meal | 4.0 " | 5.0 "
Bed | 4.30 " | 5.30 "
Third meal (artisans) | 6.45 " | 6.45 "
Bed | Directly | Directly
| afterwards. | afterwards.
_Sunday._ | |
General medical | |
inspection | After mass. | After mass.
Mass | 8.0 and 9.0 a.m. | 8.0 and 9.0 a.m.
Vespers | 2.0 p.m. | 2.0 p.m.
----------------------+------------------+-----------------
It may be noted that the diet of the colonists, while varied, is almost
exclusively vegetarian, but the inmates may supplement their ordinary
food by extras purchasable at the canteen at cost price.
There is no doubt that great organising ability is shown in the
industrial management of Merxplas. The ruling principles are the
following:--
(1) Machinery is used as little as possible. The lathes in the
workshops are driven by hand-power. The weaving is done by hand looms.
Even the grinding is done by a large capstan wheel worked by two relays
of sixty men each.
(2) The raw material is, as far as possible, produced in the Colony.
Tobacco, flax, and chicory are grown on the farm; the leather comes
from the farm cattle, and is tanned on the spot by bark obtained from
the woods; and the hair of the same cattle is spun by the inmates for
carpet making.
(3) Every effort is directed towards making the Colony self-contained.
As far as possible, the buildings, with their fittings and furniture,
are done by the colonists. The lathes and tools are made from raw
metal. The boots and shoes, cloth, tobacco, and a multitude of other
articles are from first to last produced on the spot.
The earnings of the inmates depend upon the character of the work done.
The existing scale for able-bodied men, as sanctioned by the Minister
of Justice in 1903, is as follows (10-1/2 centimes = 1d.):--
Centimes
Per Day.
Industrial work 15 to 25
Farm work 12 to 21
Domestic, garden, and other work 12 to 18
Offices of trust (writers, porters, hospital
and store assistants, shepherds, dairy
and stablemen, butchers, etc.) 20 to 30
Punishment and disciplinary sections 10 to 15
The rule is to pay the inmates, at first, the minimum rates which
apply to their class of work. Small bonuses and gratuities are given
in special cases. Extra duties, such as reading aloud fiction in the
dormitories (to prevent conversation), singing in church, and service
in the bugle squad, are paid for. Non-able-bodied men receive "canteen
money" of 3 centimes per day.
The men are paid monthly one half of their earnings to spend as they
wish, and the balance goes to their leaving fund, and is paid only
on discharge. As a rule, the instalments paid go in the purchase of
supplementary food and luxuries, but many frugal workers deposit the
whole of their earnings in the leaving fund. The result is that some
men, who have been detained a long time, have been known to take away
as much as £8 in cash, clothes, and tools.
The Colony's chief sources of revenue are; (1) The maintenance charges
of 66 centimes (6-1/2d.) per head per day for able-bodied colonists,
and 1 franc 50 centimes (1s. 3d.) for non-able-bodied colonists needing
special food, paid in equal shares by the State, the Provinces, and the
Communes; (2) the proceeds of the colonists' labour, both on the farm
and in the workshops; and (3) the profits of the canteen.
An estimate of revenue and expenditure for the year 1905, prepared
by the Director of Merxplas for the Departmental Vagrancy Committee,
contained the following principal items:--
_Revenue._ £
Maintenance grants (3,500 able-bodied inmates
at 66 centimes per day, and 1,000 not able-bodied
inmates at 1 franc 50 centimes per day) 55,626
Sale of farm produce (milk, vegetables, butter,
sheep, pigs, etc.) to private persons 800
Produce of workshops (sold to private persons,
prisons, charitable institutions, and discharged
inmates) 15,000
Canteen 3,800
Miscellaneous 399
-------
Total £75,625
_Expenditure._ £
Salaries and allowances, permanent staff, etc. 9,329
Office, library, and school 220
Buildings and furniture 2,400
Maintenance and clothing 23,254
Colonists' earnings 11,720
Canteen (goods purchased) 1,960
Workshops (tools, raw materials, etc.) 14,181
Farm and estate (plants, seeds, manures, live
stock, straw and fodder, etc.) 2,047
Miscellaneous 1,020
-------
Total £66,131
It will be seen that a credit balance of £9,494 is shown, but this is
obviously a paper balance, inasmuch as no allowance is made for rent,
interest on capital, or depreciation. On the other hand, in any full
balance sheet a large accretion of capital value through improvements
would be shown.
On this subject Monsieur Stroobant writes to me:--
"The property of Merxplas belongs to the State, and its value
increases every year because of the new buildings erected, the
plantations, and the improvements made to the land. In 1870, there
were only several small farms, heath and fir woods. The land had
an area of about 650 hectares, and as the land was poor, its value
was probably £12 per hectare."[56] The present value has never been
accurately appraised, but I place it at £200,000. The increased
value of the estate has been produced entirely by the labour of the
detainees, Parliament having made no further grant for new buildings.
The whole of the buildings were progressively erected between 1870 and
1895, according to the resources at disposal, but after a fixed plan
conceived in a large spirit by the architect, Monsieur Besme."
[Footnote 56: The Report of the Lindsey Quarter Sessions Committee on
Vagrancy says that the original cost to the Government of the Merxplas
estate was £32,000.]
Taking the accounts as published, the cost of the inmates during the
years 1901 to 1906 was as follows:--
-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------
| 1901. | 1902. | 1903. | 1904. | 1905. | 1906.
-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------
Number of | | | | | |
able-bodied| | | | | |
detainees | 3,702| 3,799| 3,842| 3,716| 3,645| 3,440
Number of | | | | | |
infirm | | | | | |
detainees | 987| 1,052| 1,172| 1,394| 1,647| 1,672
Number | | | | | |
of days' | | | | | |
maintenance|1,505,393|1,619,176|1,685,076|1,714,064|1,825,798|1,801,170
| | | | | |
Cost of | | | | | |
maintenance|1,253,029|1,367,005|1,427,771|1,508,178|1,669,169|1,689,778
| fr. | fr. | fr. | fr. | fr. | fr.
Average per | | | | | |
head per | | | | | |
day | 83 c. | 84 c. | 85 c. | 88 c. | 91 c. | 94 c.
-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------
Grouping the infirm with the able-bodied, therefore, the cost ranged
from 8d. to 9d. per day during these years.
The cost of all inmates together, in 1905, worked out to £14 13s.
11d. per head, but the value of work done was equal to £5 7s. 5d.,
reducing the cost of the 3,500 able-bodied to £9 6s. 6d., or about
6d. per day. Of this, £3 7s. or 2-1/4d. per day was paid in wages.
By way of comparison it may be stated that, according to the Prison
Commissioners, the cost of maintenance in English local prisons, after
deducting the value of work done, is £22 11s., and that in convict
prisons £28, but in these amounts no charge for buildings is included.
Perhaps the most remarkable feature of Merxplas is the facility of
escape offered to the inmates and the frequency with which this
facility is used. The escapes during the ten years 1898 to 1907 were as
follows:--
1898 592
1899 565
1900 517
1901 769
1902 879
1903 1,004
1904 1,066
1905 1,243
1906 1,031
1907 919
As the figures already quoted show, a considerable proportion of the
men who abscond are captured and sent back--though the number of
escapes exceeded the recaptures by 112 in 1901, by 108 in 1902, by 120
in 1903, by 133 in 1904, by 146 in 1905, and by 107 in 1906--but those
just given suggest plainly that a definite theory lies at the basis
of the Director's usage in this matter. Escape is, in fact, judged
very indulgently, and provided the man who gets away is found to have
settled down to regular work no attempt is made to recapture him. In
such a case it is the practice of the police to report to the Director,
and if, during a period of six months, there is no fault to find with
the absconder's conduct, he is pardoned; if otherwise, he is sent back
to complete his sentence. This apparent laxity of administration is,
after all, strictly in keeping with the object of the Colony, which is
less to punish than to restrain under discipline, until that discipline
has achieved its purpose, and the man is fit to regain his liberty--in
the Director's favourite term, to be "reclassed" in society. If such
reinstatement is expedited by act of the inmate's will, the aim of the
establishment is no less served. I cannot do better than quote from an
interesting letter upon this subject which Monsieur Stroobant has been
kind enough to send me.
"The inconveniences caused by the escape of prisoners," writes
Monsieur Stroobant, "are in reality less than they might appear to be.
Escapes take place in periods, and at certain epochs--for example, at
the beginning of a new year, at carnival, at the return of the busy
season, at the beginning of the month when wages have been paid. The
gang which intends to escape exchanges paper money for coin which
circulates clandestinely in the court yard; thus 1.50 franc paper
money is only worth 1 franc outside. The exchange is higher according
as the searches ordered by the administration are more frequent.
"Most escapes take place amongst the agricultural labourers. About
twenty-three gangs, each composed of from 60 to 100 men, work daily
in the fields and the fir woods, everywhere a league away from the
establishment. Each gang is accompanied by one warder and a sentinel
only, hence these agricultural labourers have the greatest possible
facility for escaping. Mainly, however, to the signals which are
immediately given to the gendarmes, and to the special watch organised
by the brigade of gendarmerie in the vicinity of the Colony, a
large number of fugitives, recognised by clothing belonging to the
establishment which they wear, are quickly recaptured. One may say,
in general, that the fugitives of Merxplas are, as a rule, recaptured
within fifteen hours of their escape. The men thus recaptured are
punished with a fortnight's interment in cell, and are afterwards
kept in closed quarters, from which it is impossible to escape again,
for a number of months proportionate to their attempts to abscond.
Persons guilty of repeated attempts, who are confined in these closed
quarters, receive reduced wages.
"The virtual certainty that they will be recaptured after a brief
interval, the salutary fear of the punishment which awaits them, and
the lack of proper clothing are reasons why the number of escapes is
not far greater than is the case.
"Those who escape are the energetic men who, influenced by some
ruling idea--it may be of a family in distress or other motives less
laudable--seek to reclass themselves. They are not always, by any
means, the most corrupt, and often when I learn, from a police report,
that a fugitive is following regular work, I ask the Minister (of
Justice) to suspend the order for his recapture.
"From the standpoint of the general security of the establishment,
the facility of escape constitutes a valuable safety valve, which it
is expedient to recognise. In truth, the latent energies which impel
a man, at all costs, to seek emancipation from the bondage which he
has to endure in the Beggars' Depot are exhausted by flight. If that
alternative did not exist, the elements of frequent revolts would
exist, and these would compel the administration to increase greatly
the existing number of warders."
Probably owing to the fact that the yoke of bondage sits lightly on
the inmates, serious insubordination is said to be exceptional. The
following scale of punishments applies according to the gravity of the
offence: (1) three to sixty days' simple cell detention with ordinary
diet; (2) three days' detention in punishment cells with ordinary diet;
(3) three days' ordinary cell detention with bread and water diet; (4)
three days' detention in punishment cells with bread and water diet;
(5) confinement in the punishment quarters for serious insubordination.
Offenders may also be transferred to inferior classes of work. The
punishments awarded in 1907 related to the following offences: Escapes
and attempts to escape, 919; refusal to work or idleness at work, 250;
malingering, 9; brawling, 60; rebellion against warders, 72; theft
and complicity, 57; misconduct, 407; and drunkenness, 18. The small
military guard is always at hand to quell disturbance, should it occur,
but its services are never needed for this purpose.
The fact that between 80 and 90 per cent. of the inmates are habitual
offenders proves that Merxplas does not repress vagrancy and mendicity,
though that was the purpose in the mind of the authors of the law of
1891; it does, however, relieve the country, at all times, of the
fairly constant number of 4,000 loafers, and while public order and
morality benefit, the cost to the community is very small. For the
discipline of Merxplas proves that the loafer can work, and work well,
if he chooses. Some words, on this subject, written by the Lindsey
Committee deserve to be quoted:--
"The men at Merxplas have retained a large proportion of whatever
manual and technical skill they possessed when they first began to
slip out of employment in the outside world. They have entered the
colony before the rapid deterioration, which is the inevitable result
of the tramp life, has had time to take effect, and the opportunity
afforded them to practice their trades has, in most cases, prevented
their ever sinking to the level of the average English tramp. In every
shop the keen interest the men take in their work is most noticeable;
only one foreman and one warder are employed in each shop, and without
coercion the men seemed all working with remarkable energy and real
interest. This is, in our opinion, perhaps the most striking feature
of the whole establishment....
"Inside, away from temptation, they work well, and as long as
the sentence does not exceed two or three years, seem content to
remain.... Even if permanent re-establishment in society is not
frequently secured, this large class of the inefficients, which would
otherwise form the great recruiting ground for the criminal classes,
is prevented from sinking any lower. Its members are also prevented
from propagating their kind, to prey upon the next generation.
They have a decent and fairly comfortable life, which is largely
self-supporting, and the cost is certainly far less than that of
keeping them outside by the agency of charitable doles, interspersed
with costly periods of residence in workhouse or gaol.
"The workman slipping out of employment is there treated as a patient
requiring care, not as a criminal requiring punishment, and his
downward career is arrested before his technical skill is lost.
The large amount of highly-skilled labour found there, compared to
the utter incapacity of the average English prisoner committed for
vagrancy, indicates the measure of the difference between the tramp
at the commencement of his career and the same man after any lengthy
period of life on the road. This skill may not indeed be sufficient to
maintain the man outside, especially in face of the drink difficulty,
but it is undoubtedly sufficient, inside and in the aggregate, to make
him nearly self-supporting and to give a real interest to his life.
In addition to thus preserving a national asset of no inconsiderable
value, the technical skill of the partly-efficient, the colony system
subjects the whole vagrant class to the steadying influence of regular
life and regular work for long periods of time. Even where this is
insufficient to re-establish the man in independent life, the evidence
of the Belgian colonies is emphatic that it is sufficient to make his
life both profitable to the community and not unpleasant to himself.
It also effectually safeguards his class both from drink and from the
attractions of the criminal class, and it certainly largely checks its
reproduction."
WORTEL HOUSE OF REFUGE.
The House of Refuge at Wortel may be regarded as a Detention Colony for
the less obnoxious offenders of the vagrant and mendicant class, but it
also receives persons who voluntarily enter owing to inability to find
employment or homes. The House of Refuge thus performs the functions
of the labour yard attached to many English workhouses, an institution
useful, and even essential, in any well-organised system of poor
relief so long as it is reserved for the proper people, and is used
in order to meet purely temporary needs, instead of being converted
into a device, as it often is, for evading the duty of seeking regular
employment and for living permanently upon the rates.
The Colony is worked in two sections, Hoogstraeten and Wortel proper;
at the former the helpless and sick are received, at the latter the
able-bodied and those who, though infirm, are yet able to do light
work. The maximum duration of detention, as has been explained, is
one year, but any colonist may take his discharge directly he has
saved 12s. from his earnings, or can show that he has work to go to.
The average stay of able-bodied inmates is two or three months, but a
certain number are allowed to remain beyond the year.
The following table shows the numbers who entered and left the Wortel
House of Refuge in the years 1902 to 1908:--
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
| 1902. | 1903. | 1904. | 1905. | 1906. | 1907. | 1908.
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
Admitted | 4,389 | 3,428 | 3,546 | 3,057 | 2,505 | 2,402 | 2,798
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
Discharged | 4,034 | 3,372 | 3,413 | 3,116 | 2,318 | 2,105 | 2,215
Transferred | 177 | 138 | 142 | 135 | 125 | 152 | 142
Absconded | 85 | 72 | 40 | 58 | 59 | 91 | 118
Died | 87 | 99 | 99 | 74 | 82 | 92 | 83
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
Total | 4,383 | 3,681 | 3,694 | 3,383 | 2,584 | 2,440 | 2,558
+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
Detained on | | | | | | |
December 31 | 2,003 | 1,750 | 1,602 | 1,276 | 1,197 | 1,159 | 1,399
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
The frequency of commitment during the same years was as follows:--
-------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----
Number of Times |1901.|1902.|1903.|1904.|1905.|1906.|1907.|1908.
Committed. | | | | | | | |
-------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----
For the first time |1,523|1,483|1,281|1,296|1,070| 903| 856|1,222
For the second time| 709| 772| 555| 596| 524| 402| 375| 435
For the third time | 413| 478| 380| 389| 320| 232| 234| 261
For the fourth time| 291| 329| 257| 249| 249| 174| 176| 163
For the fifth time,| | | | | | | |
or oftener |1,238|1,327| 955|1,016| 894| 794| 761| 717
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----
Total number of | | | | | | | |
admissions |4,174|4,389|3,428|3,546|3,057|2,505|2,402|2,798
-------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----
Both at Hoogstraeten and Wortel agriculture and industry are carried
on; the trades at the former place include brewing, soap making,
smithery, joinery, painting, stove making, cart building, and corn
milling, and at the latter hand-loom weaving (cotton and woollen),
tailoring, shoemaking, saddling, joinery and cabinet making, painting,
smithery, and stove making. As far as possible, every man is put to
the trade he knows best. The main aim is to produce articles which
are needed for use or consumption in the Colony, and the surplus
production is sold to other Government institutions. There are two
farms, and besides the ordinary work provided by them, a certain amount
of reclamation is done. Most of the building needed is the work of the
colonists, and nearly all the domestic work is done by them.
The actual hours of labour, exclusive of intervals, are ten and a half
daily in the summer months (April 1 to September 30), eight and a half
in March and October, and eight in the winter months (November 1 to
February 28). The daily routine is as follows (Sunday excepted):--
-----------------+-----------+-------------+-----------+--------------
| March. | April 1 to | October. | November 1 to
| |September 30.| | February 28.
+-----------+-------------+-----------+--------------
Hour of Rising | 5.30 a.m.| 5.0 a.m. | 5.30 a.m.| 6.0 a.m.
Distribution of | | | |
bread | 6.0 " | 5.30 " | 6.0 " | 6.30 "
Work | 6.30 " | 6.0 " | 6.30 " | 7.0 "
Visit of doctor | 8.0 " | 7.0 " | 8.0 " | 8.0 "
Distribution of | | | |
coffee, and rest| 9.0 " | 8.0 " | 9.0 " | [57]
Work | 9.15 " | 8.30 " | 9.15 " | --
Dinner, and rest | 12.0 " | 12.0 " | 12.0 " | 12.0 "
Work | 1.30 p.m.| 1.30 p.m. | 1.30 p.m.| 1.30 p.m.
Rest | 3.0 " | 4.0 " | 3.0 " | --
Work | 3.15 " | 4.30 " | 3.15 " | --
Cessation of | | | |
work[58] | 5.0 " | 7.0 " | 5.0 " | 4.30 "
Supper | 5.0 " | 7.0 " | 5.0 " | 5.0 "
Bedtime | 6.0 " | 7.30 " | 6.0 " | 6.0 "
-----------------+-----------+-------------+-----------+--------------
[Footnote 57: In winter coffee is distributed immediately after the bread.]
[Footnote 58: On Saturday work ends an hour earlier.]
There is a regular scale of money payments, ranging from 9 centimes to
71 centimes per day, according to the class of work and of worker. The
following are the daily rates now in force (100 centimes = 9-1/2d.):--
--------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------
| Class A. | Class B. | Class C.
| Centimes. | Centimes. | Centimes.
+-----------+-----------+-----------
Workshops, etc. | 47-71 | 24-47 | 24
Cultivation, | | |
plantation, and | | |
navvies' work | 42-60 | 21-42 | 21
Domestic and agricultural | | |
work | 18-27 | 9-18 | 9
--------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------
Of their earnings one-third is paid to the inmates at once and the
balance is given to them on discharge.
The costs of maintenance payable by the public authorities which send
colonists to Wortel are: For able-bodied persons 7-1/2d. per day, for
those not able-bodied 7-1/2d. if they do not require special attention,
and 1s. 2-1/2d. if they do.
By the admission of the officials of the Wortel Colony the permanent
effect of detention upon the character and life of the persons interned
is small. This would appear to be proved, indeed, by the return of
recommitments, which shows that of the inmates received in 1907 and
1908 over 64 and 56 per cent. respectively were recidivists. It is held
that the weak points about the method of treatment are the lightness of
the discipline and the shortness of the term of detention. While the
maximum term of detention is twelve months, the conditions of discharge
are so easy that the average stay is only two or three months, a period
far too short to influence permanently the idle and dissolute who form
the larger proportion of the inmates. Moreover, many of the latter are
confirmed inebriates, needing a special treatment, which is impossible
in an institution of this kind.
A few words may be added here relative to the Forced Labour Colonies
of Holland. These Colonies are of the type found in Belgium, and
their mode of working is in general the same. As in Belgium, too,
they were originally administered by a Benevolent Society, which was
formed about the year 1818 for the establishment of Beggars' Colonies,
Voluntary Colonies for free farmers and labourers, and Colonies for
old and infirm people and for orphans. To this end an estate of
moorland, about 1,200 acres in extent, was acquired, but further
purchases increased the area to 13,430 acres, of which 2,900 acres were
allotted to the Free Colonies, 1,250 acres to the Veterans' Colonies,
and 4,280 acres to the Beggars' Colonies, the remaining 5,000 acres
being moorland. The Beggars' Colonies were handed over to the State in
1859, but two Free Colonies are still continued by the same society at
Frederiksoord and Willemsoord, and to them two classes of people are
admitted: (1) free farmers, who are encouraged to remain permanently on
small holdings provided for them on easy terms; and (2) free labourers,
who work on the home farms of the Colony, and who, if married, live
in separate cottages, and, with such members of their families as can
work, are paid wages at a rate lower than that for outside labour.
At the present time there are three Penal Colonies under State
administration--at Veenhuizen and Hoorn for men, and at Leyden for
women; all of them are intended for the reception of vagrants and
mendicants, and the men's Colonies also receive habitual drunkards.
In addition to agriculture, gardening, and forestry, various trades,
such as weaving, carpentering, masonry, smithery, cabinet making,
shoe making, and tailoring, are carried on. The buildings have been
modernised, and the cubicle system of dormitory is almost universally
adopted. Wages are paid to the men as at Merxplas, and the unexpended
balance is handed to them on discharge.