A.—No. 7.

4. It is self-evident that the fees payable in any given district to a Sheriff for executing the processes of the Court, should be on a scale sufficient to enable him to employ experienced and trustworthy officers. Christchurch, Canterbury 4th March, 1863. George Alfred Arney, C.J. Alexander J. Johnston, J. H. B. Gresson, J. C. W. Richmond, J. The Honorable the Colonial Secretary, Auckland.

Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons, 2Stli May, IMI.

No. 3. REMISSION OF SENTENCES. We, the Judges of the Supreme Court, assembled in conference, having now been enabled to peruse the Report of the late Select Committee of the House of Commons on Transportation, together with the Minutes of the Evidence taken before the Committee, beg to express our definitive opinion on the questions, on the subject of the Remission of Prisoners Sentences, propounded to the Judges, separately, by the Honorable the Colonial Secretary's letter of 18th October, 18G0. The questions are as follow :— Firstly. Whether good conduct should, per ge, be considered as a ground for the remission of any portion of a prisoner's sentence t Secondly. If so, what portion ? Thirdly. Whether the prospect of remission of sentence should be held out in the Prison Regulations, or in any other authoritative manner 1 Fourthly. Whether the promise should be absolute, or only to the effect that in consequence of good conduct during a given period of the sentence, the Governor would favourably consider the application for remission, without any pledge being given as to the result of such consideration ? I. The first question we answer in the affirmative. We consider that the principle is a sound one of holding out to the convict the expectation of a definite abridgment of the term of his sentence, as the reward of his good conduct and willing industry whilst undergoing his punishment. Society is directly interested in the success of the reformatory influences which may be brought to bear upon the convict. Notwithstanding the partial success of all hitherto attempted plans of reformatory punishment, there must always be some hope, that a course of willing obedience and steady industry, pursued in confinement, may form good habits in the convict, which will not be wholly lost even when he has regained his freedom. Hope and fear are instruments in the work of reformation too powerful to be discarded by a wise Administration ; and in no way can these agencies be brought to bear more effectually than by the conditional promise of a substantial abridgment of the term of punishment. On this subject Sir Joshua Jebb, in a letter published in the "Times" 'newspaper, of 19th November last, remarks as follows : —" Many an iron hearted man, who would be unmoved, or grow sulky and obdurate, under harsh treatment, has determined on a new line of conduct by seeing clearly that it was his interest to take advantage of the terms offered to him by paying the price in good conduct. Many a man too, has been subdued and cordially rendered willing obedience under just and considerate treatment, who would have been brutalized by the reverse. " The public benefit in this way ; that many, under the influence of such prospects and treatment, insensibly acquire self-respect, together with habits of industry, cleanliness, &c, and are not so likely again to sink to the same depth of moral and physical degradation as others who, without such inducements, may have served out every day of their confinement in dogged submission to authority, alternating with audacious defiance of it."

It is an accepted maxim that the right sentence is the lightest which is likely to produce the desired effect. The reformation of the offender is to be regarded as one object of punishment, not capital; and the presevering good conduct of a prisoner affords some presumption (though it must be admitted no certain test) that this object has been attained. Such conduct on the part of the convict may, therefore, on the principle just stated, afford some ground for terminating his punishment. But in adopting the principle of partial remission, the security of society, as the principal end of punishment, must by no means be sacrificed or tampered with. The minimum term to which punishment may be reduced by remission must, accordingly, be fixed high enough in each class of cases to preserve the distinction between different gradations of crime, and to maintain a salutary fear of the Law. When once a scale of remission has been determined upon, the Judges will be responsible for the infliction of an adequate minimum of punishment. We need scarcely observe that in the practical application of the principle of remission, all possible care should be taken to secure impartial and intelligent Reports of the conduct of prisoners. We tike notice that in the Mother Country the public mind is agitating with great anxiety the question how to deal with that class of offenders who were formerly sentenced to Transportation, and who since the abandonment of Transportation are punishable by Penal Servitude. The discussion in question has been caused by a temporary increase in London of the crime of Robbery, and the fact that

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JUDICIAL MEMOEANDA AND REPORTS.