LIFE IN PRISON CAMPS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1920, 1 December 1913, Page 9

LIFE IN PRISON CAMPS.

"FINK CHANCE FOR li TION." ' ■ During.the.course of the last ten days the members of the Prisons Board- have paid vis:ts of inspection to the three prison camps in the Auckland district, i'lie Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout), who is chairman of the board, and who returned to Wellington on 'Thursday evening, told n reporter on Saturday that the members were very well -satis* lied with the result- of their inspection, as in each case there was evidc-nco of excellent- progress. The first camp visited \»»s that at Waikcria, twelve miles from T<< ' A tnutu, arid there they found the farm very much improved as tin i i U tho prison labour expended on if. The cattle running oh the farm, too,- were in good condition, nnd looking exceedingly well. At this camp between thirty and forty prisoners are. quartered

Having visited Waikeria, the members of the hoard wont on loHotormi, and their nest visit was toKuiai'tgaroa, situated between 30 and 40 mites from llotonia, and whore about thirty prisoners are accommodated. licra,.a.gniih everything wns lorn-id to be exceedingly nice and well-kept, tlio farm . doing splendidly. An inspection was also made of the land adjacent- to the farm, in view of the possible extension' - of planting and cultivation, " "" The prison settlement at Waipa''was next visited, and there, too, the members of Iho board found causo to be gratified at what had been dene..,, Tho site of the Waipa settlement, nyprlooiciug the lake, is an almost icleal one. and vegetables and {lowers are grown in profusion. Speaking generally, Sir Robert'St.Yjt went on to say that the board-found'* the health of (lie men at ihe camps .to.-"by excellent. There; were no epiHplriivts, and certainly no desire was expressed by any of the men to return to ibo eity gaols. The romps are all healthily nil nated, in a'lino elimate, and all the prisoners seemed very comfortable,--Thb men have cubicles in which -to '.sleep, ami get plenty of fresh air, and in oaeii settlement there is a common-room . for reading. "The .system affords ,a' line chance for reformation," conrluded the Chief Justice,