4. The Prison Act of 1898 effected far-reaching changes in the Convict System. (_a_) It placed the control of Local and Convict Prisons under one Board: (_b_) It gave power to the Secretary of State to make Rules for the government of Convict and Local Prisons, subject to Parliamentary sanction, so that henceforth the whole Prison Code has Parliamentary sanction, and can be altered at any time by Parliamentary rule without the necessity for fresh legislation: (_c_) A Board of independent Visitors was established for every Convict Prison with judicial powers analogous to those exercised by Visiting Committees of Local Prisons: (_d_) Corporal punishment for offences against prison discipline, which had hitherto been ordered by one of the Directors for any serious offence, was limited by this Act to cases of gross personal violence to an officer of the Prison, and to acts of mutiny. Such cases are reported to the Board of Visitors and determined by them, subject to confirmation by the Secretary of State. These provisions of the Act of 1898 have been attended with remarkable success. Constant criticism, which for many years had been directed against the System, has been silenced. It is no longer contended that secret tribunals administer unauthorized floggings, or that what goes on in Convict Prisons is concealed from the light of day, without the opportunity of free and independent inspection and inquiry. Floggings in Convict Prisons, without any apparent effect on order or discipline, which, prior to 1896-7, averaged about thirty yearly, have gradually diminished, until, for the past five years, the average has been less than two--and, at the same time, offences against discipline amongst males have fallen, only 21.7 per cent, last year incurring punishment, as compared with 31 per cent, in 1896-7. The whole character of the administration has been largely affected by this important Act, and the gloom and the mystery which was popularly supposed to envelope the Convict System has largely disappeared, and greater public confidence in the administration has taken its place. Penal Servitude is the same in its essential features for men as for women, except that the latter under the Progressive Stage System are able to earn marks entitling them to a maximum remission of one-third, and, in certain cases, are eligible to be sent to a Refuge under conditional licence for the last nine months of their sentence. The number of female convicts in the country has been steadily falling. Since the Penal Servitude Act of 1864 the number received has decreased from 468 in that year to an average of about 38 annually. Towards the end of 1918, in view of the increasing number of young women committed to the Borstal Institution at Aylesbury, the Convict Prison there was closed, and a wing of Liverpool Prison has been temporarily set apart for women sentenced to penal servitude.