The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2699, 11 October 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1871.

A short time ago a motion was made in the Legislative Council by the Hon. Captain Fraser, to the effect that the reformatory measures adopted at

Home, and which have had such beneficial effects there both on the prisoners themselves and on the community of which they are members, should be introduced into the penal establishments of this Colony; and that these measures might be effectually carried out, that the Government should assume the charge of all the gaols in the Colony, with a special view to the erection of a suitable central establishment adapted to the principle of the Reformatory system. This motion was well supported in an able speech of the mover, in which, taking the Dunedin Gaol as his example, he clearly pointed out that notwithstanding the very efficient way in which the present system is earned out in that establishment, its effect is likely to be small indeed either as a deterrent or as a reformatory institution. The hon. member felicitously compared our gaol to an university for crime. The magistrates, he said, conduct the matiiculation examination, and the candidates, once admitted, are passed into the hands of the ablest professors, who soon qualify them for every kind of crime. The hon. member, in conclusion, read extracts from the opinions of many of the Home Judges, from which it appears that they very decidedly disapprove of the practice of making gangs of prisoners work in large towns. We must certainly confess that we have long thought that a very great alteration requires to be made in our present system before it can be considered anything like a satisfactory one. With regard to its effect on the convicts, it seems to us that these prisoners must be far less astute than we are prepared to give them credit for being, if they cannot perceive that they are on the whole remarkably well off. They have board, lodging, and washing found them, they need have no fear that their employers will become insolvent and defraud them of their wages, nor need they be under any apprehension lest they should be long out of work. The most perfect care is taken of their health, and, in case of sickness, they have free medical attendance. There are certainly one or two drawbacks: the cut of their clothes would hardly satisfy a very fastidious taste, nor can it be on the whole very pleasant to have H M G printed in large letters on one’s clothes, or to be unable occasionally to return the visits of one's friends, while the want of tobacco and alcoholic liquors must certainly press rather heavily at first , on those long accustomed to the use of those articles; but the longing for these would soon subside, we do not doubt. Durum : sed levins jit patientia. But we maintain that if a convict in Dunedin gaol has the slightest amount of common sense he must see that he is materially, far better off than a person who has to get his living by working on the railways, say for seven or eight shillings a day, when the work is not constant. The members of the criminal classes, we feel assured, are only too well aware of all this, and thus they have no inducement whatever to lay aside their evil habits—not the slightest; and we have no doubt that very many convicts return to the gaol just for the reason that they find that it is, all things considered, more inconvenient to get one’s living out of gaol than in it. But even if this is the effect produced in the minds of the prisoners themselves by the sort of discipline they undergo, may we not yet expect that the system will have a deterrent effect on a person who is wavering—who is not exactly honest, but who is not yet a criminal ? Is it not probable that the marching of the prisoners through the town in disgraceful procession, and their having to work in public will act as a warning to such a person, especially if he be young? Experience shows that it will do nothing of the kind. Here, as in other cases, “ familiarity breeds con- “ tempt.” Any one who has been in the habit of seeing the prisoners about the town will, we are sure be able to verify this statement. The sentiment entertained by such persons with regard to the convicts was at first cither pity or disgust, but now it is indifference. One gets used to it all; and besides, it is thus known from actual observation that the punishment of the prisoners is by no means unendurable. We are, therefore, persuaded that in this respect too the system is a failure. In the discussion which followed Captain Eraser's motion, all who spoke seemed to be decidedly ot opinion that something ought to be done; but all at the same time agreed that, under existing circumstances, any radical change of system which might result in the establishment of a more satisfactory arrangement would be impossible. The “ rock ahead ” seemed to be the impossibility of getting the Provinces to expend money enough on the building of such institutions as would answer the purpose aimed at. It appears to us, however, that one oi the difficulties spoken of—the mixing of old and desperate criminals with young and less hardened offenders—-

might be met if the General Government would undertake to establish a central penal station, to which all hopeless cases might be drafted. Certainly if this could be done, there would be ground for hoping that a work of reformation could be carried on amongst those who are mere apprentices to vice, who have not yet quite reached that stage of moral obliquity, when the power to distinguish between right and wrong is altogether extinguished. As it is, however, we cannot expect that any reformatory measures will be of the least avail. It is a mere repetition of the case of the Irishman’s blanket: what is taken off from '"one end is put on to the other. It is only doing justice to such veterans as Sullivan, Fiutson, and Garrett, to say that it is very improbable that their precepts will nob have as much effect in corrupting the minds of prisoners who come in contact with them, as anything that the whole staff of the prison along with the chaplain can do to reform those under their charge.

Otago Dock Trust. —At a special meeting of the Trust to-day Messrs Martin, Fish, Thomson, Rolfe, and Hill were present. Mr Canuthcrs, engineer-in-chief for the Colony, attended, and made a report upon the i ock dispute ; after considering which, the trust adjourned. Chinese Immigration. — A new feature has sprung up in connection with the anti-Chinese agitation. The Chinese themselves are wishing to sign the petition, as they say they consider there are quite enough of them here already. Not only are they anxious to sign but willing aho to contribute to the expense incurred by the Arrow Miner’s Association in its circulation. Princess Theatre. Birthday,” and “ You cannot marry your Grandmother,” repeated last night did not draw a good house, which is to be regretted, for a better entertainment at the theatre we have not had for a long time. This evening there will be an entire change of performance the curtain rising to the sparkling drama “ Checkmate,” (never performed in Dune din), after which will be presented the “ Wilful Ward,” the whole concluding with “Done Brown,” so excellent a bill of fare should draw a large audieunce. A Nice Case. —According to the local paper, the Oreti Railway Arbitration Case will cost something before it is finished. It commenced in M sy last, and is progressing at a cost of LI 00 per week, so that up to this time it has cost in round numbers LIBOO. As there ii said to be no immediate prospect of its conclusion, the probabilities are that iu next year’s financial statement the Southland district will he debited with double that amount as expenses in re the Orcfi Railway arbitration case. Rangitata Bridge. —The following is from the Timaru Herald of Wednesday ; —The sinking of the fourth pair of columns—the last over the main stream—was completed on Saturday, and the concreting of them will, it ii expected, be finished to day. The sinking has been even better than in the thitd pair, as shown by the shortness of time taken —about a week. The pair of girders over the first span is ent’rely finished. On the firops being knocked away, and the girders eft banging for the full span of 66 feet, not the slightest deflection was visible—a sure sign of their great stability. It was expected that some deflection would be shown, but there not being so, makes us better undirstand the report of the Inspecting Engineer in England, who stated that at the trial of the girders with a weight of, we think, 60 tons, the deflection was something very trivial. New Zealand Wheat and Flour in Melbourne.— The Timaru Herald of Wednesday gives the following from a correspondent of a well-known Melbourne house to a firm in Timaru on a cargo recently arrived ex Fawn from Timaru “ It has not come to a good market. Grain of every kind has been pressed iu so fast that the price has fairly given way; and notwithstanding the increased duties, New Zealand wheat, duty paid, cannot be sold over 4s for good samples; some indifferent lots will not fetch 3s 6d; and the very best oats are not worth more than 3s. The arrivals have been enormous.” Speaking further mi of the probability of there being a good Australian harvest, and the prcspects of New Zealand wheat being sold in the Victorian market, he says : - •“ It (the harvest) might be prolific, and there would not then be any room for New Zealand produce. This is what our protectionist Government is driving at, viz, to shut New Zealand produce out of this market altogether. This week at auction New Zealand silk-dressed flour sold, duty paid, at Llo— duty is 455. It would almost pay to ship it back ” (the italics are our own). Again, the same writer, speaking, of a well-knon u buyer in Canterbury, says:—“Mr is here, and seems quite disgusted with the state of affairs. New Zealand bran, after paying 4jd per bushel duty, has been sold at Is id, bags given in.” Mining.—The following account of a novel project may be worth quoting from the Sacramento Reporter :—“ At Murderer’s Bar, on the North Fork of the American River, is a crevice or depression in the bedaock, known to contain vast quantities of gold. The spot was flumed and partially worked several years ago under great disadvantages, and though no sign of the bottom of the crevice was discovered, and only a small space was worked, large quantities of gold wore obtained before the water broke m upon the miners. Recently, some parties in that vicinity, acting upon the idea successfully carried out by Yon Schmidt in his Blossom Rock enterprise, have organised a company, called the Great Crevice Mining Company, to work out the rich lead. The intention is to sink an iron pipe five feet iu diameter, to the necessary depthpossibly 100 feat and to run drifts from tbe shaft thus made and extract all the auriferous gravel oomeatahle. By this means the water cun be kept out of the mine with comparative ease, and work carried on below the bed of the river with safety, cheapness, and doubtless great profit A steam pump will be used to keep the shaft clear of water, and when the freshets commence a tightfitting iron cap will be placed upon the tube, so as to effectually prevent the lower portion of (be mine from damage during the winter

months. Altogether, the contrivance is a very ingeniou.si.as well as economical one, and we doubt not will succeed, in which case the company will produce many thousands of dollars before the winter rains. If ! this new mining idea proves practicable—and there is every reason' to believe that it will—a new source of great wealth will be opened, because their are hundreds of enormously rich deposits iu the beds of our rivers which can nover be worked out by flumihg, but which can be made to yield up their hidden treasures by the tubing process. ” Fur.—An old resident of Fiji, writing to a friend in Melbourne, thus discourses on the subject of the newly established Government, and the expedition which has been despatched to punish the mountaineers of the Ba district for the murder of Messrs Spiers and Macintosh:—“l am somewhat hopeful of the new Government, and this because I find that the respectable men among the cotton planters are accepting it, and giving it their support; not, they say, as a tning good of its kind, but as the best thing they can gel for the present. Herein, I think they are wise, and if they can make head against the rowdy elements of Fijian society, and if the old chief do not prove impracticable, they may eventually biing light out of darkness ; though all L can say about their prospects is only what Burns said of Sandy Mackay, ‘We maun bide and see.’ Maafu seems really and truly to have thrown his weight into the Thakombauan scale. He is a shrew'd fellow, and no doubt looks forward to the inheritance of the Thakombauan shoes. However, this may be, his coming over is extremely important, and is certainly the best piece of Fijian news that I have heard for many a long day. I am very anxious indeed about that expedition of the white men into the interior to punish the murderers of poor Spiers and M ackintosh. It is a most foolhardy move. Our race seems to have the same lesson to learn over and over again whenever brought into contact with savage tribes. First, an absurd contempt of the enemy, then an equally absurd panic fear of him. both together resulting in a war of extermination. This is our rdle. It is barely possible that the hill folk may be terrified by the approach of the white men. and may not molest them. This, however, I consider extremely improbable. Most likely they will retire from a few of the nearer towns with a view of enticing the assailants into the hills. If the white mou retire without doing anything, the results will be evil, for the natives will be emboldened to mike another attack. If they burn an empty town and then retire to the bach, as seems most likely, the natives will not consider that a defeat; it will be only a powerful spur to exertion for revenge. While, if the white men allow the savages to entice them far into the hills, there will be an awful tale of blood for those to tell who live to tell it I have been far inland iu that district, and know the difficulties of the way. There are several fine decent men gone with that expedition. How glad shall Ibe to hear that they are safe returned. ” The bazaar in aid of the liquidation of t e debt on All Saint’s church, will open to-morrow, and continue on the two succedingdays. We understand that St. George’s Hall has been very tastefully decorated for the occasion, and the stalls will be under the charge of several ladies who have taken an active interest in forwarding the object.