MANAWATU EVENING STANDARD Circulation. 3.200 Copies Daily. MONDAY, MAY 21, 1906. TREATMENT OF PRISONERS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8194, 22 May 1906, Page 4

MANAWATU EVENING STANDARD Circulation. 3.200 Copies Daily. MONDAY, MAY 21, 1906. TREATMENT OF PRISONERS.

It is difficult to see bow the Comptroller of Prisons in New South Wales arrives at the conclusion that the New Zealand system of employing prisoners is not an advantageous one. Undue bias and conservatism or failure to possess himself of all the evidence is the only reason one can assign for an opinion condemnatory of the tree-planting system. From whichever standpoint the matter is viewed, the immense superiority of the New Zealand system is apparent, Oa the prisoners themselves, whose reformation is tiie object desired, the effect dannofc be other than beneficial. Discipline suffers nothing by the fact that they are not dealt with in the orthodox way. They are occupied in work that is far healthier than the comparative idleness of the prison yard. The dangers that might result from the indiscriminate association of hardened criminals with the better .class of prisoners are real, but can easily be overcome by classification and arrange, ment. This is a mere matter ot detail. Prnctice has proved in New Zealand that morally the effect of the system is distinctly good. On the part of the State the engagement of the' criminal class in such work as tree-plnntmg is clearly of economic value. In years to come the Waiotnpu- plantations will • prove u valuable asset, which will amply repay whatever outlay has been incurred. Further it is work that does not come into competition with the labour of free men, and thus one objection to the disposal of the product of prison labour is removed. The Comptroller'* com parison of the increase of crime in New Zealand and New South Wales as showing u defect in the New Zealand system is not a fair test, For