Prison Reform.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14975, 23 May 1914, Page 10

Prison Reform.

It is satisfactory to Icarn on the authority of our Wellington correspondent that the Government have decided to close Lyttelton Gaol and to erect another prison in the Canterbury district on a more suitable site in tho country. Lyttelton Gaol, as has been pointod out- several tiroes in these columns, is a, hideous anachronism.

The centre qf a congested town is the worst situation for a gaol that can possibly be imagined. .Anything in the shape of rational reformatory treatment of tho prisoners is impossible hi such, circumstances, and there aro <i dozen other objections which will at once occur on the most superficial consideration of the question. "What is really a scandal has been allowed to continue too long, and.ire hopo the Government will make the change with as little delay as possible. It is satisfactory also to learn that the "Wellington prison, which has also been out of date for years, is likewise to bo shifted as soon as tho Waikeria prison is ready. The latter has a thousand acres of land attached to it, and the proposal is to employ tho prisoners in useful out-of-door work. Tin's trill bo more economical so far as tho country is concerned, and it will give a much better chance not only of improving tho men physically, but of reforming their characters. Such questions as prison reform have iittle effect on tho votes at election time, and it is all the more to the credit of tho Government, therefore-, that they have taken up the matter so earnestly. Mr Herdman has tho reputation of being thorough in anything he undertakes, and wo havo littlo doubt that under his Administration the whole prison system will be substantially improved.

It is well known that there is a section of Labour that in politics considers only tho "workers," but it is not often that the objective is so plainly avowed as in tho the or,T;:in of tho Railway YTorkors' and General Labourers' Association of New South Wales. 'It is too lato in tho clay to talk about doing justice to all sections of the community," it says in an attack on Mr Griffith. Minister for Works, for insisting on tho railways carrying "black" chaff. "Tho Labour Party," says tlio '•Navvy,' , "was elected for the purpose of obtaining justice for ono section only, and that is the workers." It is workers like tho controllers of the "Navvy" who are forming tho now Labour Party in New South Wales, of which there is word in to-day's cable news. Mr Holman is not moving fast enough, and he has a Minister who tlares to consider the interests of others besides unionists, therefore workers are exhorted to "fight this Labour Government us bitterly as they would a Liberal Government."

Women wore allowed to vote for the first' time at the Chicngo municipal elections this year. The result was a little curious, but not unlike some of our own experiences in Now Zealand. About 70 per cent, of tho women registered voted. According to the Chicago correspondent of "The Times," howev-er, instead of supporting their own candidates, they seem to have followed the advice of thnir brothers, husbands,- or fathers, for none of the women candidates for seats in the Aldermanic Council secured a majority. In the first ward tho veteran politician popularly known as "Bathhouse John," Was approved by Miss Marion Drake-., who made a spectacular appeal to tho electors to help her to suppress tho promoters of vice and corruption. Tho women voters, as "The Times" correspondent somewhat* cynically puts it, "failed to impedo tho smooth running of the Democratic machine," and Mr Coughlin was returned, by a majority of four to.one, receiving more female votes than Miss Drake. In tho counties and small townships, however, tho votes of the women were more effective where the issue was local option. Over 40,000 women voted for the "dry" ticket, and 18,000 for the "wet" ticket, the result being that publichouses will be abolished from sixteen counties and eleven cities which have hitherto been wet. In Chicago, as in Nor Zealand, tho consensus of opinion is that the presence of women has softened the amenities of elections. Everywhere they were treated courteously by the men.

Tho position of the anti-Reform faction is very much like the position of an inferior chess-player struggling to avert an impending checkmate. Ho tries one move after another in the hope of giving check to the enemy, but is promptly reminded that any one of these moves exposes his own king and puts him in check. Tho latest example of this is the "Liberals'" attempt to make tho laud-settlement move. Under tho Reform Government, they allege, there has been an increase in the number of large estates; only the "Liberal" Party can promote small settlement, they declare. To the reminder thafc they had 20 years of uninterrupted opportunity to deal with tho question, they make no reply; for there is no roply open to them. But there is another point for them to remember. Ac ono of our contemporaries has pointed out, tho nuttier of big estates, according to tho "Liberals' " own records, increased during tho Ward regime. In IS9I, the adult mates holding land numbered 27 per cent, of tho adult population. After twenty years of "Liberalism" tho proportion \yas, not oO or 60 per cent., not even 27 per cent., but 23 per cent. Pairing the Ward Administration the net increase in tho number of large estat<3s was 98. It is for the "Liberals" to explain away these figures, upon which wo make no comment. But any explanation they give will utterly destroy thoir criticisms of the Government. They must try another move, wo think.

Tho article in "The Press" on the Admiralty's extraordinary instruction to tho Sonior Naval Officer on the New Zealand station during the strike, to avoid being in a position when he was likely to Lk» called upon, has been freely commented on by the English papers. AVo havo already extracted part of tho "Daily Mail's" observations on tho subject. Tho "Dublin Express," in its issue of April 9th, also has a leading article on tho matter, which points out tho different policy pursued by Mr Churchill in tho case of Ulster, where the officers were by no means ordered to keep conveniently out of the way.

Tho task assigned to the Inspector in the Royal North-West Mounted Polioe of finding the murderers of two explorers in the territory within the Arctic Circle may bo tho most formidable ever assigned to a member of that famous force, but similar tasks are common in the huge area, two-thirds of that of

Europe, in which.it keeps order. There is a striking contract between tho contempt for lon- in tho United States and the respect in which it is hoJd over the border under tho Union Jack. and Western Canadian superiority in this respect is largely due to tho magnificent work of tho Mounted Police. The policy of tho authorities is that at ;il! costs order must bo maintained, and crime punished, but they manage to do this irith tho minimum amount of trouble. A couple of men arc. sometimes tho sole guardians of law and order in an immense, district. When it is necessary they act quickly and fearlessly, but tho prestige of the corps, and the knowledge that the arm of the law is Jong and inexorable, materially helps to lighten their work. There are endless tales of tho courage, nerve, and endurance of these men. of long pursuits of outlaws in the -wilds, of fearless bearing when tho quarry has been run to earth, and of long journeys with prisoners, by canoo or dog-team, to the nearest centre of justice. Tho sergeant who, on coming up with an Indian desperado, paid no attention to tho man's levelled rifle, but rode straight up to him and ordered him to surrender, was killed, but by dying he enhanced' tho prestigo of the corps throughout tho country. Years ago the United States authorities had to escort a largo body of warlike Indians from American territory across the Canadian border. The American escort was a considerable force of cavalry. When tho border was reached, the Americans wero met by a non-commissioned officer, a trooper, and an interpreter. "Wliere is the escort?" they asked. "Wβ aro tho escort." said tho Canadian non-commis- ■< oner! officer. These two policemen took charge of the Indians, and had no trouble with thorn. During the building of tho Canadian-Pacific railway, moro than one. American rowdy found f.o his cost that tho Canadian idea of law and order was different from the American. Tho present expedition may occupy three years, and although we may bo suro it is a small one, it ill cost a great deal of money. But money spent in vindicating the law >s well spent. A good many years ago a white man disappeared in one of tho romoto districts of the North-West; and the only cluo to his fato at first was some human ashes in a camp firo. Gradually, and with great difficulty, the chaiii of evidence was woven round certain Indians, and two or three years after tho crime tho murderers wero executed. Tho case cost the country thousands of pounds, but the effect must have been most salutary. If the present expedition is successful it will be proof to the Eskimos that the King's writ runs over the whole of Northern Canada