The stone wall for strengthening the embankments is absolutely necessary for the security of the work, and the timber-work is necessary for the safety of vessels and the security of the lock-gates. The guard-gates are necessary for the protection of the whole work, and to facilitate repairs of the lock-gates and their appendages. The open pier is required for the safety and protection of vessels entering and leaving the Canal. The removing of the crib of stone at the entrance to the lower lock, is important for the safety of vessels entering and leaving the Canal, and will materially facilitate the same. Verv respectfully, yours,

Lansing, January 20, 1859.

JOHN BURT,

Engineer.

1859.

No. 10.

[ No. 10. ]

REPORT of the Committee on State Affairs to whom was referred so much of the retiring Governor's message as relates to the establishment of a Work-shop or Penitentiary in the city of Detroit.

The committe on State Affairs, to whom was referred so much of the retiring Governor's message as relates to the establishment of a work-shop or penitentiary in the city of Detroit, rport:

That in the consideration of this subject, your committee have been influenced by what they have deemed to be the true interest of the State, both as regards economy and humanity in the execution of its criminal laws, and in the expenditures necessary to be made, in providing for the security of the community, and the reformation of criminals-these objects forming the principal basis of our penal statutes.

More than one-third of the whole number of convicts confined in the State Prison since its establishment, have been sent from the county of Wayne. This disproportion is likely to continue in the future. The large amount of

crime committed within that county may be attributed to its frontier position, and the fact that all large cities, like Detroit, furnish the attractions around which reckless and depraved persons will always concentrate. Besides, Detroit being the principal seaport in the State, the home of our commercial marine, nearly all arrested for crimes committed upon the navigable waters of the State, are tried and convicted in the courts of Wayne county, of the city of Detroit, or in the United States' Court. Many of these convictions are for minor crimes and misdemeanors, which can only be punished by imprisonment for short periods of time, though the same expenses of transportation to the State Prison are incurred as would be in case of con. viction of crimes of greater magnitude.

In some instances, a sentence to the State Prison for a minor offence destroys the self-respect of the convicted, and annihilates all motive for reform. The ignominy of the punishment is such, that all hope of a restoration to the confidence and esteem of the community is lost, and the punishment is thus made to confirm rather than reform the criminal.

The reformation of the offender, and the security of community, which are the leading objects of punishment, are thus lost, by the severity and ignominious character of the penalty. It is believed by your committee that the establishment of a House of Industry in the city of Detroit, to be under the control and management of the city government, which has a direct interest in its wise conduct, would, if it did not furnish a complete remedy for the evils which have been enumerated, do much towards their amelioration.

The great expense and insecurity of transportation to a distance would certainly be avoided, and, the ignominy of punishment in such an institution being far less than in the

State Prison, greater inducements to permanent reformation would exist, and in many instances prove effectual.

The security of community would be equally well provided for, and the discipline adopted more parental and less degrading to the convict.

There is also a numerous class of offences which are punished only by a commitment to the jail of the county, in which the convicted person becomes at once a public charge and is supported at the public expense, in a place where no means exist for his employment, and no pains are taken for his improvement. This system involves all the more populous counties in large expenditures for the support of a class of offenders who are, in most instances, able to support themselves, and who, under a proper system, would contribute, to some extent at least, towards their own maintenance.

The idleness which, under existing laws, is forced upon persons under sentence in the county jails, is almost as dangerous to the community as would be the abolition of this punishment altogether.

In a crowded prison, like the Wayne county jail, the older and more hardened offenders become the teachers and prompters of the less experienced; so that, instead of being subdued by the punishment, the great majority of persons leave their confinement with more desperate purposes, and higher qualifications for their accomplishment, than they possessed when they entered upon their imprisonment.

Persons of every age and sex, guilty of every degree of crime, from the boy or girl who errs, perhaps from necessity, or under the direction of the parent or other person under whose control they may be, to the burglar, the counterfeiter, and murderer, are placed in a common receptacle, where the tendency must be to drag the less degraded down to the level of the most reckless and abandoned.

With such arrangements, the county jail becomes the criminal's college, and, in every place as large as Detroit, surrounded by similar circumstances, can and will turn out as many graduates as your courts can convict or your prisons accommodate.

Every consideration of economy and of philanthropy should prompt the State to such decided action as will at once provide the most effectual remedy for the evils thus briefly alluded to.

In pursuance of the recommendation of the executive, and in furtherance of the views already expressed, your committee have prepared a bill which is herewith submit. ted. This bill provides a Board of Commissioners who shall, under the restrictions therein named, and under the direction of the Common Council of the city of Detroit, proceed to the erection of a suitable building, to be known as the House of Industry of the city of Detroit, and appropriates from the treasury of the State thirty thousand dollars to aid in the construction of such building, upon the express condition that the city of Detroit shall furnish an eligible site for the same, and also appropriates a like or greater sum for the completion of the building.

The direction and management of the House of Industry, when completed, is lodged with the Common Council of Detroit. The cost of conducting the same, and the maintenance of the prisoners over and above the proceeds of their labor, is to be borne by the counties availing themselves of its privileges, in such manner as shall be agreed upon by their respective boards of supervisors; and will not, therefore, be any charge upon the State Treas

ury.

The other provisions of the bill are confined to necessa› ry details, and the designation of the class of criminals. who may be sentenced to the institution.

Your committee are of the opinion, that, within the two years next ensuing, as large, if not a larger amount, will