PRISON REFORM.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 830, 31 May 1910, Page 6

PRISON REFORM.

Speaking a-t Whangaiei on Friday nlgit, the Hon. Dr.. Findlay (Minister for Justice) made some ■ interesting references' to the question of prison reform, and some further amendment he intends asking Parliament to mE;ke to tlie 'scheme already in operation. He said that when he entered the Ministry ■ he ascertained that in New Zealand between 5000 and 6000 went to gaol every year as convicted criminals. On inquiry he found that 53 per cent, .of those sent to prison- were previously convicted. This was only 2 per cent; behind' the number Bf prisoners sentenced annually in England with previous convictions to their credit. :He ■ thereupon, propounded - a Echeme of prison reform, and nothing that had transpired in his private life had given greater pleasure than the results of that scheme. The prison, system 'which until recently prevailed in New Zealand was that observed in England 10 years ago, and he found that j-oung men were sent to gaol and kept in their cells for 20 hours out of the 24. That he considered hardly the thing for a Christian people to countenance, and so he stopped it and introduced a system of classification. At ,Invercargill the old men undergoing sentences were employed as gardeners, and one man was producing as much as .£7B worth of vegetables per year from an acre patch, while five others had between them raised and sold £SGO worth. Likewise, on the tree planting stations, the men were earning 'money for their families, and were actually asking permission to work overtime. He had been approached by the parents of one youth so employed, asking that their eon might be detained at tho tree-plant-ing station for a further period, as the enforced; employment had done him eo much good. The question of a post priBon system was important, and he intended asking Parliament to sanction one. On these tree planting stations something like ten million trees had been planted, and seventy years hence they would be fit for use for timber purposes. The question arose, however, as to whether orison labour could not be employed to even better advantage by planting fruit trees instead of pine trees, and eo establishing orchards instead of forests in .such a district as that of north of Auckland. He believed it would be a splendid thing to establish, and-he intended bringing the matter before Parliament next session.