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Session 11. 1918. NX W ZEALAND

PRISONS (REPORT ON) FOR THE YEAR 1917-18; ALSO OPERATIONS OF THE FIRST OFFENDERS' PROBATION ACT, 1908 (REPORT ON), FOR THE YEAR 1917-18.

Presented to both llouses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

The Hon. the Minister in Charge of the Prisons Department to His Excellency the GovernorGeneral. My Lord, — Wellington, 15th September, 1918. I have the honour to submit to Your Excellency the report of the Prisons Department for the year 1917. I have, &c, Thomas M. Wilfobd, Minister in Charge of Prisons Department.

The Permanent Head of the Prisons Department to the Minister in Charge of the Department. Sir, — Prisons Department, 31st August, 1918. I have the honour to furnish, you with the thirty-seventh annual report on the prisons and prison institutions of the Dominion, together with the prison statistics, extracts from the reports of Gaolers and Officers in Charge, and the reports of the honorary Probation Officers appointed under the provisions of the First Offenders' Probation Act, 1908. The statistics and Gaolers' reports cover tho calendar year ended 31st December, 1917, while the Probation Officers' reports and the tables of revenue and expenditure are for the financial year terminating on the 31st March, 1918. The statistics for the past calendar year (1917) indicate a decrease of approximately 3 per cent, in the population of our prisons compared with the figures for the previous year (1916), but, as pointed out elsewhere in this re-port, the total for 1917 is largely increased by the number of men who have been sentenced to various terms of hard labour by the military Courts for offences against the Military Service Act, 1916. The Government Statistician's tables show that 166 courtmartialled prisoners were received between March and December, 1917, while at the date of this report (31st August, 1918) there are 212 prisoners of this class. The total number of prisoners of all classes (civil and military) is at present approximately 973, so that our criminal prison population is now only about 761, compared with 893 in 1913. From these more recent, figures it is therefore clear that the war has at last had a similar effect to that experienced in older countries in reducing the number of criminals remaining in the Dominion, although, as stated

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