The Daily Telegraph SATURDAY, MARCH 26, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3042, 26 March 1881, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph SATURDAY, MARCH 26, 1881.

Captain Hume, the Inspector of Prisons, has attracted attention to bis appointment by his insulting circular on the subject, of " members of tbe prison service " commuijicating information to tbe Press. We are reminded by an article l-.\ tbe Dmedin Star that in 1878 a Seltc; Commucee of tbe House of Representative?- was appointed to inquire into the etat<? a tbe gaols, and tbe improvements nec«. 5 ;sry to enforce proper classification r.nd discipline. Mr C. U. Bowen was chairman, and amongst tbe members were ; ''> William Fox, tbe Hon. Mr Rollestor., Stout, Mr Sheeban, and the Hon.'""lor Atkinson. It is to the recommend ; oa of this Committee that the Colony owes primarily the appointment of au Inspector ot Prisons. Tbe Government of the day in which Sir George Grey was Premier (says our Southern contemporary) do not appear to have taken auy action on this recommendation, beitig more harmoniously occupied in tbe endeavor to bamboozle the electors of the co'ony into giving them a good majority ar ibe general election. In the ses&ion of 1879, after the displacement of the Grey Ministry, provision was made in tbe Supplementary Estimates, on December 17, for the salary of an Inspector of Prisons, and thereupon a short discussion took place in Committee of Supply. The vote was agreed to, and, consequently, the Agent-General appears to have been immediately instructed to select a person of suitable qualifications, as tbe advertisement that written applications for the appointment would be received appeared in Tbe Timei of March 31, 1880. Since the session, Captain Hume, having been appointed by tbe Agent-General, has arrived in the Colony and entered on the duties of his office. He is said to be a very competeHt man, of large experience in prison management, and to have especially commended himself for his knowledge of the newest systems. The lawi relating to prisons in New Zealand are embodied in tbe Prisons Act, 1873, and the Prisons Act Amendment Act, 1879. The latter simply enacts that places used as public gaols at or before the commencement of tbe Prisons Act, 1873, are to be deemed to have been constituted public prisons. In the Prisons Act, 1873, we therefore find practically tbe whole existing law set forth. In regard to tbe internal economy of tbe gaols,'sections 37 to 39, inclusive, provide for the nomination and appointment by the Governor of visiting Justices, whose functions are thus defined :—" One or more of the visiting Justices so appointed shall from time to time visit and inipect each prison, aud shall examine

into the state of the building so as to form a judgment as to what alterations may appear necessary, strict regard being had to the requisitions of this act, and the regulations thereunder with respect to the separation of prisoners aud enforcement of hard labor in prisons; and shall further examine into the conduct of the respective officers and the treatment and conduct of the prisoners, the means of setting them to woik, the amount of their earnings, and the expenses attending the prison ; and shall inquire into all abiises within the prison, and shall fake cognisance of matters of pressing necessity and within the powers of their commission as Justices, and regulate the same ; and shall once at least in each year make a report to the Colonial Secretary." Power is given to the Governor to make rules with respect to the duties of visiting Justices, and from time to time to repeal or alter any rule so made, and make other rules in addition thereto or in substitution thereof; "but no rules shall be valid which are inconsistent with any provision of this Act." Captain Hume, however, was hardly installed in office before he took on himself to issue a circular to the governors of gaols to the fffect that—" Reports against officers being on the increase, gaolers are directed in future whenever an officer is found guilty of any offence by the visiting Justices to forward a full statement of the case to this office, together with the visiting Justice's decision thereon, and it will be submitted to the Minister of Justice for his decision as to the advisability of degrading or dismissing the officers concerned,in addition to such punishment as the visiting Justices may have ordered. (Sigued) A. Hume, captain, Inspector of Prisous." This circular, it may be noted, does not assume to emanate either from the Colonial Secretary or the Minister ot Justice, but is the ipse dixit of Captain Hume, whose office of Inspector of Prisons is not recognised by law, and who consequently has no legal status in issuing such instruc tions, which practically tend to the superceding the visiting Justices in an important part of their functions by a reference of every case against gaol officials to the Prison Department in Wellington.