labor of the convicts was employed continuously on the construction of the road from Empire to Gamboa. The value of their labor, at 10 cents an hour, amounted to $12,497.40. The cost of subsisting and guarding them amounted to $21,956.64. Nine convicts were pardoned, and one prisoner under sentence to the penitentiary was pardoned on account of poor physical condition and deported before he began his sentence. No convicts escaped during the year.

Continuous guard duty was performed by police officers at all of the locks. On April 15, 1915, on account of the withdrawal of the troops from Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks, the police guard at those two places was increased. The Chagres River and Gatun Lake were patrolled by launch. There has been a similar patrol of the harbors of Balboa and Cristobal, although the division did not have the exclusive use of launches for this purpose. A suitable launch for police work at Balboa was ordered toward the close of the year, but is not yet in service. Three motorcycles were put in use October, 1914, for the control of automobile traffic and for special emergency service. The work of depopulating the Canal Zone was continued, and, in this connection, 1,136 privately owned houses were destroyed by the police, or removed by the owners when notice was served on them. One hundred and thirty-four persons were deported from the Canal Zone by the police; of that number 73 were convicts who had completed terms in the penitentiary, and 61 were persons who had been convicted of misdemeanors, whose presence in the Canal Zone was deemed inadvisable. Coroner's investigations were held in 103 cases of death, of which 36 were due to accidental drowning and 35 to accidental traumatism. Investigations were made in 294 cases of accidents involving personal injury, and detailed reports of the circumstances were submitted.

The general conditions on the Canal Zone in the matter of fire protection were much improved during the year. This was brought about by the construction of concrete houses in place of the frame buildings previously used, by better streets and roads, new pump stations, hydrants, and by means of the general cleaning up of waste material and rubbish on the Isthmus. A new concrete fire station at Balboa was occupied on January 11, 1915. The fire stations at Empire and Culebra were transferred to the Army, together with a certain amount of equipment at each place. A new motor-driven hose wagon was purchased during the year and installed at Balboa to supplement the automobile fire engine. The stock of hose on hand was renewed, and 50 additional Pyrene extinguishers were purchased and installed. There were 129 fires and 13 false alarms reported during the year. The most destructive of these fires occurred in the city of Colon on the afternoon of April 30. About one-third of the town was burned down, and it was with great difficulty that the fire was pre

vented from spreading to Cristobal. The damage to the Panama Canal property was estimated at $12,000 and the damage to Panama railroad property at $10,000. The total loss resulting from this fire is estimated at $1,110,000. On March 8, 1915, a fire of unknown origin occurred on the mining dock at Fort Grant and caused damage estimated at $27,500. On May 4, 1915, a fire broke out in the hold of the Pennsylvanian of the American-Hawaiian Line shortly after the vessel had left the port of Balboa. She returned to the dock and the fire was extinguished after a two days' fight, in which the Canal Zone firemen were assisted by hired laborers and by soldiers from Fort Grant. The loss resulting from this fire was estimated at $95,000.

DIVISION OF SCHOOLS.

The schools for white children had a net enrollment of 1,146, and schools for colored children a net enrollment of 1,430. Fifteen buildings were in use for school purposes, besides two rooms in the old Washington Hotel at Colon Beach. At Balboa, four type-5 bachelor quarters were remodeled for use as a school for white children, the upper floor being used for the main high school and the lower floor for the grammar school. A school for the colored children in the Balboa district was provided by removing the Empire and Culebra white school buildings to La Boca during the summer vacation, and reerecting them as one 12-room schoolhouse. The building formerly occupied by the colored school at Mount Hope was removed to Gatun in February and reerected for the use of colored pupils. The main high school was transferred from Ancon to Balboa. The branch high school, formerly conducted at Gatun, was transferred to Cristobal. On account of the small attendance, seventh and eighth grades at Gatun were transferred to Cristobal November 9, 1914. For a similar reason, the colored school at Mount Hope was discontinued December 31, 1914, and the white schools at Culebra and Las Cascadas were consolidated on February 15 at Empire. Because of the crowded condition in the Cristobal white school, it became necessary to open a school on Colon Beach November 9, 1914, for the first four grades. The usual medical inspection of pupils in the grammar grades in white schools was made beginning October 26. Subsequently inspections of all schools were made by the district physicians of the health department once a month. No accidents occurred in connection with the transportation of school children either by train or brake. Fire gongs were installed in all of the larger schools and at least once a month a fire drill was held in every school. Each school is equipped with hand extinguishers and teachers and janitors have been instructed in their use. Spanish was introduced in the four upper grades of the elementary white schools at Cristobal, Pedro

Miguel, Ancon, Corozal, and Balboa at the beginning of the year. and continued throughout. A revised course of study has been practically completed. It will be printed during the summer vacation period and adopted at the beginning of the next school term. The foundations were laid for a system of industrial training, conducted as an integral part of the Canal Zone school system, with the cooperation of the mechanical division and the commissaries. A supervisor of industrial training, competent to reorganize this extension of school work, was appointed September 22, 1914. Highschool and eighth-grade boys have been given employment after school hours, on Saturday, and during vacation, as salesmen and checkers in the commissaries. Courses of instruction have been conducted for apprentices in the shops, and classes in mechanical drawing and woodwork were organized in the high schools. At Balboa, Ancon, Corozal, and Pedro Miguel eighth-grade pupils were given instructions in woodwork and sewing. Industrial training will be continued next year on broader lines and with more ample equipment.

BUREAU OF CLUBS AND PLAYGROUNDS.

The bureau of clubs and playgrounds was conducted, as in previous years, under the supervision of secretaries furnished by the international committee of the Young Men's Christian Association. The clubhouse at Empire was closed July 14 and removed to Balboa, where it was reerected and opened on Christmas Eve. The building formerly used at Porto Bello was reerected at La Boca as a clubhouse for silver employees. The activities of the bureau were practically the same as in previous years, except that more money was spent than heretofore on baseball grounds, tennis courts, and other outdoor features.

THE COURTS.

In the district court 86 cases were pending at the beginning of the year, 779 cases were filed and 777 decided, leaving 88 cases pending on June 30, 1915. Of the cases decided 75 were civil, 341 probate, and 361 criminal. Court was held both at Ancon, for the Balboa division, and at Cristobal. Three-fourths of the cases heard arose in the Balboa division. There were 116 sessions of court. Five hundred and seventy-seven marriage licenses were issued by the clerk of the court and 216 deeds recorded. The sum of $5,277.16 was collected in fines, costs, and fees.

In the magistrates court for the Balboa subdivision seven cases were pending at the beginning of the year, 2,889 cases were docketed, and 2,892 cases were settled, leaving four cases pending at the close of the year. Of the cases settled 137 were civil and 2,755 were criminal. Of the criminal cases 30 were dismissed, 189 were committed to the

district court, and there were 2,203 convictions and 333 acquittals. Collections on account of fines and fees amounted to $7,674.14.

In the magistrates court for the Cristobal subdivision 3 cases were pending on July 1, 1914, 2,400 cases were docketed during the year, and 2,398 cases were decided, leaving 5 pending at the close of business on June 30, 1915. Of the cases decided 164 were civil and 2,236 were criminal. The criminal cases resulted in 1,709 convictions, 337 acquittals, 69 dismissals, 9 cases compromised under sections 359 and 360 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and 112 cases committed to the district court. A total of $5,898.38 was collected in fees and fines.

The district attorney in his annual report (Appendix L) makes the following statement with reference to jury trials in the Canal Zone, and I concur in his recommendation:

The present district attorney is familiar with the result of jury trials upon the Canal Zone, both before and since the Executive order of July 4, 1913, authorizing jury trials in all felony cases. Before the Executive order referred to jury trials were allowed only in capital cases. Since the Executive order of July 4, 1913, the only defendants demanding a jury trial have been white citizens of the United States. Negroes and foreigners upon the Zone prefer trial by the court without a jury. Since the Executive order referred to 6 white defendants have demanded jury trials; 1 was charged with violation of the white slave act, 1 with murder, 1 with manslaughter, and 3 with assault with a deadly weapon. All were acquitted by juries. The 4 last cases were for crimes committed against negroes, and juries refuse to convict white defendants in these cases.

The results of jury trials since the Executive order of July 4, 1913, have been very unsatisfactory, and I renew the recommendation made in the last annual report that the law be amended so that there may be a return to the former practice of allowing jury trials in capital cases only.

RELATIONS WITH PANAMA.

Negotiations by correspondence or personal conference between the executive secretary and the secretary of foreign affairs of the Republic of Panama included, among others, the following subjects in addition to routine matters: The issuance of transportation on the Panama Railroad to employees and officials of the Panama Government, and the abuse of the pass privilege; the granting of the commissary privilege to nonemployees with the sanction of the Republic of Panama; the decrease in infant mortality by preventing practice by incompetent midwives; filling in low land at National Exposition Grounds with material from Panama Bay; the matter of granting permission to American aviators to make flights over the city of Panama during the National Exposition, and the Panama Canal exhibit; examination by officials of the Republic of Panama of records of The Panama Canal from 1910 having reference to the reimbursement of the United States for the cost of waterworks, sewers, and pavements constructed within the cities of Panama and Colon, and the matter of reduction of water rents in the city of Colon; con

struction of a telegraph line for the Republic of Panama between Panama City and Empire and thence to the Canal Zone boundary in the direction of the town of Paja; transmission of messages over the Panama Canal telephone line to El Vigia; the contract and revocable license respecting the rental of two wires in the transisthmian duct line of the Panama Railroad between Panama and Colon; the strict enforcement of laws restricting immigration so as to prevent the landing of immigrants for whom there was little likelihood of employment, and who were likely to become public charges; the delay in the promulgation through the Republic of Panama Official Gazette of sanitary ordinances prepared by the Panama Canal health officials; the health ordinances respecting the registration of births and deaths in the cities of Panama and Colon; the increase of import duties on goods entering the Republic of Panama and the proposed requirement that The Panama Canal secure a permit in each instance for the clearance of materials and goods through the Panaman customs; the regulation of private hospitals in the cities of Panama and Colon and the reduction in rates at Colon Hospital for Panaman residents of Colon; unauthorized entry upon Canal Zone territory and exercise of police powers by Panaman police in pursuit of fugitives; the delivery or orders of sequestration or embargo decreed by Panaman courts against the wages of Panama Railroad employees, and the matter of maintaining a representative in the city of Colon by the Panama Railroad Company to receive such orders of garnishment; the segregation of stables in the city of Panama; the proposed sale of the American wharf in the city of Panama to the Republic of Panama, and the lease entered into between the Panama Railroad Company and Messrs. Pinel Bros. for the use of the wharf in the city of Panama known as the "English Wharf"; the changes recommended to avoid confusion between lighthouses established by The Panama Canal and the Republic of Panama; the right of the Republic of Panama to refuse to honor a request for the extradition of a citizen of Panama from the Republic of Panama to the Canal Zone; the boundry convention between The Panama Canal and the Republic of Panama, changing the boundaries in the district known as Las Savanas and in the waters of Colon Bay; the payment of 40 per cent of the face value of United States postagedue stamps used in Canal Zone post offices to the Republic of Panama; the fire in the city of Colon April 30, 1915, the rebuilding of the city, and the housing and care of the refugees; the construction of lighthouses at Cape Mala and Bona Island; the prevention of the sale of liquor near Canal Zone boundaries; and the right of Panama to collect import duties on material for fuel-oil tanks in the Canal Zone.

It has been difficult to secure the cooperation of Panama respecting measures necessary for the public health in Panama City and Colon, and it seems probable that (as contemplated by the treaty)