PRISONS' BOARD.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1051, 14 February 1911, Page 6

PRISONS' BOARD.

— f— . • . ITS MEMBERS SELECTED, i EXTENSION, OF Till'. PROBATION . SYSTEM. . Under the, Crimes Amendment Act. of last session, a board, consisting of three official members and four lay mombers, is created, whoso function is from time to time to consider the cases of all prisoners in custody under tho reformatory" provisions of the Act, and to recommend to the Governor the release or tho continued detention of the prisoners. Tho idea of tho Act is that ono of tho four lay members should bo selected from each of the cities, and it is expected that only one of them will sit with tho board in each city—tho member whoso city the board meets in. Tho position of tho lay members is Tho selection of suitable nion willing to act on the board has given the Government a good deal of thought. Their selection, however, 'is now announced a 9 follow:— President: His Honour the Chief Justico (Sir Robert Stotit). Official members: Mr. F. • Waldegravo (Under-Secretary for Justice); Dr. (Inspector-General of Mental Hospitals and Prisons). . Unofficial Members. Auckland: Mr. F. G. Ewington. Dunedin: Mr. Geo. Fenwick. ■ . ■Wellington: Mr. J. R. Blair. Christchurch: Mr. W. Recce. Mr. Ewington lias had an interesting careor, which his present appointment serves to recall. He wai born in 1844 at Barnet, in Herts, now grown into a hillsuburb of London. In 18C2 ho landed at 1 Auckland, and a year later joined Sir H. Atkinson's Bushrangers in Tr.rnnaki. A little later he participated in further fighting in Taranaki'as a member of Nixon's Mounted Defence Force, being attached to General Cameron as orderly. Kor his behaviour* at tho Battlo of Rangiriri in- 1804 ho got tho Now Zealand Medal. After this war Mr. Ewington set un in business in Auckland,' and in ISBG was made a Justice of tho Peace. He has been Official Visi'nr to the •Lunatic Asylum since thr.t date. He-is well, known in Auckland as: Hon. secretary Benevolent Society, member, of Prisoners' Aid Society, Diocesan Synodsman, hon.'corresponding secretary of tho London Liberty and Property Defence League, member of the Voterans' Homo Committeo, lecturer on historical subjects and Labour questions, and frequent writer on politics.

Mr. Georgo Fcnwick, who is managing director of the Otago Daily Times /Co., has been for many years a committeeman of tho Patients' and Prisoners' Aid Society, Dunedin, and thd Society for tho Prevention of. Cruelty to' Animals. Ho takes a very warm interest in . all social, and public matters, and his work is recognised by tho citizens of Dunodiri.

Mr. J. R. Blair retired from the minting trado iu Wellington in 189 i. Ho has for many years been very prominent in tho control of education administration, in this'province, as'chairman both of tho College Board of Governors and of tho School, Cmmission. Ho is a director of tho New Zealand Shinning Company, and has been one .of Wellington's Mayors. Ho is the senior visiting justice in Wellington.

Mr. W. Reece, Christchurch, is a wellknown nublio man. In 1830 he was president of tho Christchurch Chamber, of Commerce. Ho has been captain of the Canterbury .Mounted Rifles,.' Mayor of Christchurch, chairman of tho War Fund in 1890; president.of tho.A. and P. Association in 1898, and a commissioner of .tho New Zealand ; Exhibition in 1900-7. He has also been ' prominently connected with' philanthropic work.. . . ' REMARKS BY DR, FINDLAY. DUTIES OF THE BOARD. Tho Hon. Dr. Findlay, Minister for Justice, speaking to a Dominion reporter last eveningi said that tho board had been vory carefully selected. . Eaoh of tho lay members had shown throughout a number of years a keen, continuous,' and an intelligent interest in prison reform. Regarding tho qualifications of the . official members,.-, including, tho Chief Justice, who had always been bno of tho' most scientific and sympathetic students of reformative prison. methods, it was not 'necessary for'him to speak. Tho board would probably have ono or two preliminary meetings in Wellington to determine the general lines of its procedure—a matter, in which tho Act left:it a frco hand. r ' Tho' general idea. ;was that tho board'worild havo meetings in each of tho four centres, at which the Chief Justico or some other Judge would preside, and there would bo present ono or both of tho official members and tho lay member living in tho centre where ■ the meeting is held. ' Besides examining the case, of each prisoner detained under an indeterminate sentence, tho board would hear applications from prisoners so detained. would, no doubt. I. dealt with regularly at short intervals. "Tho importance of the-Prisons Board in the now schemo can scarcely be overestimated," continued Dr. Findlay. l ''A Judge committing a prisoner to an indeterminate sentence, declares, in . eit'cct, that he shall bo detained so long as tho Prisons Board thinks necessary for the purpose of his reformation, find for the protection of society. Thus tho board is one of the essential pivots of tho wholo system. . .

, "Another exceedingly important branch of its duties is that connected-witli probation. Tho new Act provides for a greatly extended probation r.ystcm, and the control and administration of that system is vested in the Prisons Board."

Asked whether ho had considered tho working of the new probation scherao so far as it lay with him to settle it, the Minister for Justico replied that ho hi" that day ohtainod tho sanction of Cabinet for'such aschcme, but he was not prepared to discuss it at present. The Minister added that as part of his original prison reform scheme, tho' first step was now being taken towards t;. closing of the Dunedin gaol. Tho women prisoners--were being removed to Lyttelton, and- this would effect a considerable saving in the cost of supervision at Dunedin, where a small number of women prisoners had-been costing tho country about Jl'iOO a year'for supervision. Ho hoped later on to find accommodation elsewhere for tho male prisoners now at Dunedin, fo that the gaol at that place could be clo-'ed altogether, and the building made availablo for some other public" purpose.