PRISON OR SCHOOL?

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 217, 7 June 1919, Page 6

PRISON OR SCHOOL?

An intimation by the Minister of Justice that he intends to do away .with' the Torracc Gaol as a prison coincides with a statement d,v the chairman of the Education Board (Mr. T. Forsyth) that he intends to press for the fulfilment of the promise given by Mr. Justice Herdman, when, he was Minister of Justice, that when the gaol was abandoned the Terracc site 'wpuld be made available for educational purposes,. .Obviously this very desirable, change is one that should be pressed forward with all possible energy, and there does not seem to be 'any reason why the Prisons Department should not cvacuatc the site in the very near future. Mr. Forsyth's idea of transferring tho Training College to tho Terrace area has much to commcnd it, and it rather supports than militates against the. proposal that a school replacing the unsightly gaol buildings would serve the most thickly populated part of Wellington. Tho fact- that part of the land adjoining the gaol is Town Belt should be 110 hindrance to the utilisation of the whole site for school purposes. The area in question is of no great importance as an ordinary, reserve, but it will very usefully extend the site or grounds of the future school. The project of securing tho erection of a first-class school on the ground now occupied by the Terrace Gaol is one in which the City Council ought to co-operate most heartily with the Education Board. Given a really determined agitation, the changes might be greatly expedited.

An Order-in-Council published in this week's Gazette gives authority for the payment out of the profits of the I'nblie Trust Office, of-a bonus equal to onetenth of the interest received by each account or estate from the common hind during the year ended March 31, tsjl.'l. Iho total profits of the office, alter retaining .CM,OOO, amounted to .ta1i,15,"), ,uul the amount distributed bonwi ifl not to exceed £33,100.