In 1895-96 university courses under 22 professors were attended by 203 students at the licei of Aquila, Bari, and Catanzaro.

There were besides (1895-96) 13 university institutions, with 2,668 students; 9 superior special schools, with 813 students; 1 experimental agricultural institute (1899) with 59 students; 34 special and practical schools of agricul ture (1899), with 1,542 students; 2 schools of mining (1898), with 42 students; 202 industrial and commercial schools (1897), with 32,522 students; 174 schools of design and moulding (1898) with 12,256 studente; 13 Government fine art institutes (1898), with 2,198 students, and 13 non-Government, with 1,688 students; 6 Government institutes and conservatoires of music (1898), with 875 students.1

In 1898 there were in Italy over 1,831 libraries. Of these, 32 were Government libraries, with 1,294,869 readers, who had 1,690,825 books given out (1898).

On December 31, 1895, there were in Italy 1,901 periodical publications. Of these, 479 were political; 327 were economic, juridical, or on social science; 202 agricultural; 243 religious; 169 literary and scientific; 138 medical; the remainder being artistic, military, geographical or humorous publications. In foreign countries there are about 130 periodicals published in Italian.

In 1898 there were 9,670 books published in Italy, comprising 715 religious books; 950 scholastic and educational; 632 historical and geographical; 377 biographical; 1,487 of poetry and general literature; 345 in mathematical, physical, and natural science; 942 in medicine; 1,047 in agriculture, the industries, commerce, &c.

Justice and Crime.

In Italy, justice in penal matters is administered in the first instance by the Pretori, by the penal Tribunals, and by the Courts of assize; on appeal, by the penal Tribunals, and by the Courts of Appeal. The highest court is the Court of Cassation, which confines itself to inquiring whether the forms prescribed by law have been observed.

The Pretori have jurisdiction concerning all misdemeanors (contravenzioni) and all offences (delitti) punishable by imprisonment not exceeding three months, or banishment not exceeding one year, or by fine not exceeding 1,000 lire. The penal Tribunals have jurisdiction in the first instance in offences (delitti) for which the Code establishes a minimum penalty not exceeding five years of imprisonment and a maximum not exceeding ten years, or in offences punishable by a fine exceeding 1,000 lire.

The Courts of Assize, which in most cases have juries, have jurisdiction in all proceedings concerning serious offences punishable by imprisonment for life (ergastolo), or by imprisonment exceeding in the minimum five years, and in the maximum ten years. They have exclusive jurisdiction concerning offences against the internal and external security of the State, and all press offences. Appeal is allowed to the penal Tribunals from the sentences of the Pretori, and to the Courts of Appeal from those of the penal Tribunals. The Court of Cassation has power to annul, for illegality, sentences passed by the inferior Courts, and to decide questions of jurisdiction or competency.

1 There are no statistics of non-Government institutes of music, but some of these are important, for example, the musical licei of Bologna, Pesaro, Rome, Turin, and Venice.

Italy is divided, for the administration of justice, into 20 appeal court districts, each of which is subdivided into tribunal districts, 162 in all, and these again into mandamenti, each with its own magistracy (Pretura), 1,549 in all.

Table showing the number of persons convicted of offences of all kinds before the various classes of courts, during five years :

The number of prisons or penitentiaries, with number of inmates, on December 31, 1897, is given as follows:

In Italy legal charity, in the sense of a right in the poor to be supported by the parish or commune, or of an obligation on the commune to relieve the poor, does not exist. Exceptions to this rule are in favour of forsaken children and the sick poor, the former being maintained and the latter supplied with medical attendance at the expense of the province or commune. Public charity in general is exercised through the permanent charitable foundations, called Opere pie,' regulated by the law of July 17, 1890. These are very unequally distributed in the different provinces, and their operation is in the manner prescribed and in the territory named in the deeds of foundation, or by the statutes in force. A thorough inquiry into their financial position was made in 1880. The general results were :-Leaving out of account institutions intended for lending, or for the encouragement of saving

(that is, monti di pietà, monti frumentari, casse di prestanze agrarie), there were 21,866 opere pie, with a gross capital of about 2,000,000,000 francs. Their income and expenses were :—

Added to this net income were casual legacies, contributions from private benefactors, subsidies from communes (for hospitals), &c., all of which receipts are spent annually, and thus the sum at the disposal of the opere pie in 1880 amounted to 96,509,071 lire.

The property of these foundations is constantly increasing. In the space of 18 years (1881-98) the new legacies amounted to 294,796,966 lire. In 1897 the communes spent about 44,150,859 lire, and the provinces about 21,597,772 lire in charity; over one-fourth of the former sum and over threefourths of the latter being disposed of through the opere pie.

Finance.

I. STATE FINANCE.

Revenue and Expenditure.

Direct taxes are those on lands, on houses, and on incomes derived from movable capital and labour. The tax on lands, amounting to about 96 millions, with an additional tenth, is spread over the 9 cadastral compartimenti. That on houses is at the rate of 12.5 per cent. (with three-tenths additional) of the amount taxable, which is two-thirds of the real annual value in the case of factories, and three-fourths in the case of dwelling-houses. By law of July 22, 1894, the tax on incomes from movable wealth was raised to 20 per cent. of the amount taxable. The amount taxable in the case of incomes on which the tax payable may be levied by simply withholding the amount (public funds and treasury bonds) is the whole income; where the tax may be exacted by means of registers it is, with some exceptions, thirtyfortieths of the income; in the case of industrial and commercial incomes, it is twenty-fortieths; for life annuities and incomes from labour alone (professions) it is eighteen-fortieths; for incomes of

State, provincial and communal employees it is fifteen-fortieths. The communes and provinces also tax lands and buildings. The State grants to the communes one-tenth of the proceeds of the tax on incomes as compensation for other communal revenues made over to the State by various laws.

The principal indirect taxes are:-the customs duties, the octroi, the taxes on manufactures, the salt and tobacco monopolies, lotto.

The financial year of Italy ends on June 30. The following table exhibits the total ordinary revenue and expenditure of the Kingdom, together with the annual difference in each of the last seven years, the budget estimates being given for the last two years:

The following table shows for the year ending June 30, 1900, the estimated revenue and expenditure :

1 The revenue and the expenditure of each Ministry are divided into four categories:Effective receipts or expenditure; 2. Construction of railways, &c.; 3. Movement of

capital; 4. Receipts or expenditure d'ordre.