THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1913. PRISON REFORM.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 21 November 1913, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1913. PRISON REFORM.

Time was in New Zealand, if the statements of old identities may be relied upon, when gaol life was not by any means unpleasant. It is stated as a fact that in the early days prisoners were allowed to leave the gaol in the evenings, and were cautioned that if they did not return at a certain hour they would be locked out. We are not prepared to certify to the truthfulness of this statement, but give ft as it was given to us. For the last twenty or thirty years the' gaol has not been regarded in. this Dominion as the most ideal place in which to spend a holiday. There has been a disposition in recent times, however, to ma.ke prison life more acceptable, and it is just a question whether those in authority are not going a little too far m this direction. In this connection it may be mentioned that the report of the Commissioners of English Prisons for the year 1912-13 notes an increasing tendency to treat the gaol as a sort of rent-free lodging, with food and entertainments gratuitously provided. The chaplain of, Holloway condemns "the scandal of the short sentence." There are many women, he says, who regard Holloway as a lodginghouse offering privileges far superior to any obtainable elsewhere. They come back" after a few weeks' freedom to do their seven or fourteen days' sentence with cheerful alacrity, frequently remarking: "I feel quite a stranger." t( I have hat! a hard

timo outside," was the candid confession of one recidivist. "I am pleased to get buck, now 1 get three meals a day, .and no struggle for existence, and no worry." llie governor of Maidstone Prison gives sonio curious facts rehiring to soldiers. Many strong healthy lads, he says,- will sual in order to get discharged from the service A ca*>e in point was that of a lad in an Irish? regiment, who had been left some property in Irelaud, and wished to leave the Army in order to get home. A discharge would have cost him £2O, but a small theft proved a more efficacious way out of the difficulty. Among the latest additions to" the pleasures of prison life are lectures and addresses on varied subjects by prominent people. Lectures have been given recently on such topics as "The Satellites of Jupiter," "How to Live to be Seventy," "The Formation of Character," and "How to Look After Number One." They are said by the authorities of the prisons f o be highly valued by the prisoners, delivered as they are by men of expert know-

ledge of the subject, and coxiched in language euitttblo for an audience of varied intelligence.