DUNEDIN GAOL.

Evening Star, Issue 4160, 27 June 1876, Page 2

DUNEDIN GAOL.

Mr Caldwell’s report on the Dunedin Gaol for 1875 6 merely deals with the many undertakings initiated by prison labor in Dunedin, Port Chalmers, Peninsula road, Cayersham, Maitland street works, and the reclamation of the harbor. The . Gaoler acknowledges the most valuable assistance he had received from the visiting lustices, who had on air occasions proved to be zealous, earnest, and most willing to assist him on every occasion and in all possible ways. The Provincial Surgeon and Chaplains of the Gaol visited very regularly during the year, and had lost no opportunity by their counsel and influence to co operate with the Gaol authorities in carrying out the discipline of the Gaol, and in promoting the P’-ace, order, and general welfare of the officers and prisoners. Mr Caldwell concludes by saying that it would be a matter of the grossest ingratitude were he to close his report without testifying to the-excellent manner in which the officers and warders bad discharged their very onerous nd critical duties during the year, their services both day and night having been unceasing, and performed with a zeal, temper, and ability that merit for them every consideration. Prison-life Was, as the stone of Sisyphus, an endless repetition of toil -and constant weight upon the intellect and spirits, and demvnding all the exertions of of the faculties, at the same time being compelled to the severest drudgery. Return A. shows the earnings and expenditure of H.M.’s Gaol, Dunedin, from April, 1875, to March 31, 1866. The earnings are set down thus : - •Estimated value of prisoners’labor LI 1,432 13d ; 603 days’ labor of tradesmen overseer at 12s, L 361 16s; 900 do. warders at 10s, L 45 0; receipts—miscellaneous L 227 Is 4d—total, L 12,471; 11s 4d. Expenditure Salaries and departmental contingencies L 9,895 6s 9Jd; tools and material for employment of prisoners, L 1,967 15s la—total LI 1,863 Is 10id. Excess of earnings over expenditure, L6OB 8s S^d, Return B. shows the manner in which prisoners have been employed during the same period, and the value of their labor. For the day labor outside the Gaol, LI 1,442 13s was the amount earned, ordinary day labor being estimated at 7s ; carpenters, blacksmiths, painters, &c., at 10s. Inside the Gaol the amount earned was L 1,652 3s, estimating the work of tailors and shoemakers at Gs, of cooks and wardsmen at 3s 6d, of washerwomen at 3s 36, of needlewomen at 2s 6d, of wardswomen at 2s 6d, and of woodcutter at 2s 6d.

The report of Mr Torrance, Chaplain to the Gaol, the Hospital, and the Lunatic Asylum, is also printed. In the Gaol Divine service is held every Sabbath morning. and generally on holidays. Mr Torrance states that while too many of those brought under the lash of the law are of a thoroughly criminal bent, others—aud they are a numerous class —have fallen from.a respectable position by intemperance, or through what 4s usually termed “ fast life,” While he had. endeavored to

exert an influence upon all--both in prison and upon their discharge.—who had manifested a desire for amend* ments his efforts had been chiefly directed towards those who previously held respectable positions, with a view of saving them from sinking into a state of apathy: and confirmed criminality, and he had the/batlsfaction of knowing that these not.: been fruitless. The hospital had been daily*; visited, and clear evidence, afforded i that minds had been enlightened-»?ahd hearts* gladdened. Those inmates of the’ Asy suffering under religious mania had received the most attention, and Mr Torrance hopefully states' that he believes he has some service to persons so afflicted in bringing them to a sound state of mind* The report., concludes, thus:—“lt may hot perhaps be out" of place to say that, in connection with all the institutions, but chiefly the Gaol and Hospital, a considerable number of those I h&d to deal with were hew arrivals, some of whom had shown themselves to be unfitted; for Colonial life, and in some instancea had manifested from the first a criminal ten-' dency.” ... ,9 "