TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3122, 30 June 1881, Page 2

TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 1881.

Ih reference to the recommendations of the now celebrated Captain Hume, that the gaolers in this colony should be chosen from retired officers of the army or navy, we are indebted to the Tablet for reproducing the opinions on the subject of the late Lord Beaconsfield, who said on one occasion, when addressing the county magistrates at Aylesbury : — " Allow me to conclude with a remark about prison officers. My experience has been very extensive and tolerably long. I have known intimately a good many gad governors. Of these, several have been military or naval officers; and, according to public opinion, such men ouglt to make the best governors, because from their youth they have been accustomed to the enforcement of discipline and the formal observance of orders. My observations have led me to doubt the accuracy of tbi3 popular opinion, and I should shrink from again voting for the election of a soldier or a sailor. I have had a long experience, as a member of the Government, in the management of convict prisons, where the offenders remain for years; also the county gaols, to which men and women are sent for a few days, weeks, or months. Old offenders, it is understood, give little trouble. To spend a certain proportion of life in confinement is incident to their mode of life, irksome as the imprisonment is, they submit quietly and make the best of it. But a youth, convicted for the first time, is likely to be despondent or savage. He may be utterly reckless of all consequences —to enforce discipline upon him is necessary, but if this is done in a rigid and unsympnthising spirit there is a danger of suicide or violence, and at any rate the hope of reformation is much lessened. ... I would no more put a captain at the head of a gaol than I would put a gaol governor in command of a squadron." The Dunedin Star remarks that the importance of the prison establishments will, no doubt, increase much ere loDg under the new broom of the Inspector, but it would be a grave mistake to dispense with the present experienced offieere, whom Captain Hume admits " appear to carry out their duties in a satisfactory manner," and to place the gaols or prisons as they are to be called under the charge of persons who have no experience of penal discipline, which is altogther different in its character to that of the army and navy. Already it seems the Inspector has planted a protege of his own in the Lyttelton establishment; and possibly like the late Inspector of Lunatic Asylums, he may have friends to fill the vacancies at a minute's notice—in fact, a perfect reserve force of half-pay officers. The Government we should suppose, are not, however, likely to act in a hurry on the recommendations as to the reconstruction of the Department, which most decidedly would not be approved of by public 1 opinion,

The "special" of the Timaru Herald, who ought to know something about one or more of the matters lie telegraphs about, says :— " All the stories about a Middle Tarty, a cave of Adullam, and so forth, au sheer moonshine. All that has happened is that the Government supporters aro urging thorn to include a bold scheme of local government among the measures, the moderate section of the Opposition being quite willing to support it; and that Government have not yet decided whether they can accede to tne wish of their friends or not is, to a great extent, a question of money, but there is no doubt Ministers are not fully resolved upon the principles. The statements that have got abroad about Mr Wakefleld's 'bidding for office,' seeking to 'form a party with Mr Ormond,' being ' enraged by Sir George Grey taking the wind out of his sails, , with many others of similar character, are mere inventions of correspondents, who do not understand what is going on, and will not go to authentic sources for information. Mr Wakefield has been in the most friendly intercourse with the Government daily, particularly in discussing the possibility of bringing in a practical scheme of local government. Much the same thing may be said of Mr Ormond. Both are merely endeavoring, as private members of the Government party, to get something done to take local affairs out of the House of Representatives, and there is a perfectly good understanding between them and Ministers. That Mr Oliver is going to rejoin the Ministry is also a pure invention. The truth is nobody is troubling his head about the portfolio, except the specials and paragraphists. The Ministers have postponed all consideration of the subject, and it is hai-dly mentioned among the members; except by way of joke."