WELLINGTON.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2111, 10 February 1908, Page 4

WELLINGTON.

(Special to Times.l WELLINGTON, Feb. 8. The weather continues gloriously fine. The calm of the last few days, however, was to-day varied by a pleasant breeze. The wind seems to have fanned the bush fires into renewed vigor for there, is a smoky haze on the hills around Wellington. To-day the water in the main reservoir at Wainui is now about an inch below the sill, tho quantity behind . the quantity behind tho walls being about 20,000,000 gallons. The depth of water in the old reservoir at Karori is about 39 feet, and in the dam, further up the valley, about 10,000,000 gallons is stored. ..The water from Karori is being used' for the high levels only. The City Engineer emphasises the necessity for preventing waste of water, pointing out tha_t it may be a considerable time before another good downpour of rain occurs. In regard to infant life protection,' Mr. Fowids says that the Government has appointed the local managers of industrial schools and receiving homes to be district agents of the department, for dealing with children under the Infant Life •Protection Act. These officers are all ladies. Assistants have also .boon appointed, to enable the work to be carried out efficiently, and these assistants aro either trained nurses, or ladies who have had special experience in the nursing of young children in some of the voluntary homes in the country. Mr. Fowids expects a great saving of infant life, as a result of the recent legislation and the work of the local societies. Some seven men and one woman, dealt with under the Habitual Criminals Act, arc to be placed in a special ward of the prison at New Plymouth, on the expiration of the sentences which they are now serving. A wing of this prison is being fitted up to accommodate the habitual criminals, and the Minister for Justice and the Inspector of Prisons will leave Wellington on Monday to inspect it. The consultative committee in connection with the habitual criminal division of gaol will consist of the local stipendiary magistrate, the gaoler, and the visiting justices. Under the Act. any prisoner who wishes to bo released must forward a petition through the consultative committee to’ tho Supreme Court | which tried him, and on the recommendation of the committee the Governor will decide when he is to bo set at liberty. The accommodation at New Plymouth will be of a temporary character. Tho Government intends shortly to carry out an 'improved method of treating the mentally-afflicted. Mr. Fowids says that the Government is making some additions to the Mental Hospital at Porima, but these are not of a very extensive character. He is on the' lookout for a suitable piece of land for a central Mental Hospital, but so far has not been successful. It will probably bo on the Main Trunk line, where a good extent of land can be obtained. “Wo have,” he says, “lots of available labor at these institutions 'which wo, cannot use to the best advantage on the small pieces of land at present attached to them, and in any case the time has arrived when we ought to start on another institution—a Central Mental Hospital. To get tho placo in order it is not a desirable thing to have too many inmates 'rowded into one building, and if we tad a large piece of land, and were darting anew, we would work the nstituition more in the way of sepirate colonies, which would enable nueh better classification to be aranged than is possible when having 11 the patients in one large building.