The Daily News. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3. PRISON LABOUR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81880, 3 November 1906, Page 2

The Daily News. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3. PRISON LABOUR.

iWE exced-a. V...ik be ng peifurmed

■-. : pi lion lauuur at \,u t,,n i-aik ' ■ u;cii i„ rapn,ij u.ing ii u n,;o,jn-.d nlo one ut u.e h.na -pu.u a.up..i- ; ...cities in tie co,lii,- a . .i-.ll.iiy est < —prompt ub IU a „ k wiisai--r°ii b • —ji ;.--'i- .be ,j nave nioiu iu,t 01 -i smi ar ch,rajt,- ; t.ndcr.ai,cn by uj ii; mean- New Piy.nouih i b burnt, u ly endowed by Aatuie with, u ,11 | spots and locaiions that lend ih.tu -eiyes to bo„m.hcat,on. "i iu town and p.. ie,i.y id furiner spiend ciiv endoued by having possessed cin/eiis .those aesthetic peispicu tv pi.mipied iliem 10 have set a-ide tor pub .e use the ciiarniiiig reserves i or wli.e.i Ae.v Piyiiiom.i i- nuuu la, and w.ae. ->i ueii as ha* been dene m c p ilolj however, theie still remains an mini, aniouiu of beauuucal on to be ucueuaiien beloie 11 can be said thai tie town lias taken leasonably luil advantage of its great natural advantages, and beioie the town \\i 1 reapti.erewaid that Us position as me signt-seving resou of tile Gaiucn ui Ne.v Zealand must eventual y cuticle it 10. We have, howuvei, but a Imi.utt population, and u IB , lut lo ijC cxpecieu mat the" public would wiii--u«'i unueiiake any neaviei obi,gallons than they nave aircady couseiited to carry 111 tins direction. Uhi.e, • neruoie, die cost of such works at oiciniaiy labour charge, would be 'juohlb j.ive, we s ee no reason why work could not be undertake uy prison labuui on similar hues to mat at Western Paik, the conUelleis of which contribute X-io per month towaids the cost of the labour. The upkeep ot the gaols of the colony is a tax upon t.ie publ.c, aud a policy mat would tend to iigutou tnat t„Jc should be a popular one with mj pubic and the piison autnoit.es ul.ke. Paiticuiatly .-.houid mis ue tne case win icgard to New Pyluoutli. The annual icpoit of tne Prisons Department sliows that the net co-t per pi.soinr at the local g-aol is the highe t in Lie colony, and we utu.il conies, we ale noi sui ptmed to find that .t is so, and that keep ng men under lock and key is so expensive a. iuxuiy. While at Auckland, with a dai y average number of prisoner.- 01 224, tne cu-t per nead is jus; . jn £ls, at New PUmoaih with a daily aveiage of 20 tne net eosi per pnsoini is X..04. We qu.te fail to understand why toe cost should be so neavy, but it is not dilhcu:t to see how the cost could be considerable reduced, in the course of h-s report, the in pector of Prisons -tales that 'owing to want of accommodation at some of the gaols the celluiai system (to peimit of proper cLs:ihcanoi) of prisoner ) cannot be enforced in its entirety." It ,cfms 10 us thai the system of classification could be put into epilation to a muca gicttcr extent :f lull advantage were laken of such gaols as the ocal one. file New Plymouth gaol 13 structurally a first-class one, of lecent construction, and it is only half occupied. If the Inspector is desirous of installing a full cellular system, why uoe» he not utilise the cell -pace provided heie? The same staff could manage a muca greater number of pri-oner-, ,11 least so we should judge item a comparison of the cost of administration of tiie several gaols, in wli'cli New Plymouth again occupies pride of portion. While W'anganui gaol, with an average of 25 prisoners, costs X,'6SS in salarie- and allowances. New Plymouth, with 20 prisoneis. ictjuiics /l(jiJ7 for its ex-pen-es, al a cost per prisoner of ,£4O, as aga nst_ that of /,2b' at WanThe inference we draw is no, that the local gaol is over staffed, or that die sea e of salaries is higher than elsewhere, but that the minimum number of prisoners is a lotted pei warder. One of the titiest quarries in the d strict belongs , .0 the gaol, yet it is left entirely unproductive. There is an ever-wait-ing market for every yard of stone that can be produced in Taranaki, i and the gaol quarry could be uti!i ed wihout interfering in the slight's-, with private enterprise. No one wi 1 deny thai per head per annum is far too heavy a charge for maintaining pri-oners, especially so •then the means are at hand for redtieng this cost by the prisonous' own exertions. If the New Plymouth gaol is to continue to be so utilised, —and as it is one of the strongest and bc-t equipped in the colony, it no doubt w'll be—then it ought to be run on more business-like lines, by relieving the congestion in other prisons of the co ony and being made to a greater degree self-supporting-. With the greater amount of prison labour then available, many of the works of town and district beautifice.tion we have spoken of. and tourist '.racks to at present inaccessible beauty and historic spots, could be undertaken and carried out at nominal co-t to the ratepayers, and f o he pecuniaiy benefit of the Prisons Department.