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Quarry output value from the two small quarries at Napier and New Plymouth, ■the larger quarry at Auckland, and the gravel-pit at Paparua was £16,700 for 1948, as compared with £11,700 for 1947. The new machinery at Paparua is now coming to hand, and the Works Department has been asked to report on the Auckland quarry machinery, .as the present installation produces a metal which is too large to meet to-day's requirements. STAFF During the year Mr. D. A. Mackintosh, who occupied the position of Deputy 'Controller-General of Prisons and Inspector of Prisons, retired on superannuation. Mr. Mackintosh, through his long association with the Department, had an intimate knowledge of the law and the work relating to prison management. He was also a most •courteous and loyal' officer. Another serious loss to the Department was the retirement, due to ill health, of Mr. T. Banks, who for over twenty years was the officer in charge of the Hautu Prison Development Farm. Few men in New Zealand had a better knowledge of pumice-land •development work and few had a more practical understanding of the handling of prisoners. Mr. A. St. P. Jordan, Superintendent of the Wi Tako Prison, also retired on superannuation, and Miss F. Mason, Superintendent of the Addington Women's Reformatory, resigned to get married. Both of these officers rendered excellent service to the Department. Mr. H. C. Mathew, Superintendent of the Invercargill Borstal Institution, resigned to take up a somewhat similar appointment in the Victorian Prison Service. Mr. Mathew's departure will mean a distinct loss to the Department, as he .always showed great enthusiasm and initiative in boys' work. Indeed, I think it may be said that it was his missionary urge to serve in a field where there appeared to him to be a greater need for his services that induced him to leave the Invercargill Borstal. A further unfortunate casualty in our controlling officers' ranks was the loss of Mr. A. A. Douglas, late Gaoler at Napier, who, after some months of illness, recently died. During recent years the Department lost the valued services of the late Mr. D. Dunlop, Superintendent of Waikeria ; Mr. Leggett, Superintendent of Mount Eden ; Mr. Spittall, Superintendent of Paparua ; and Mr. Stocker, Superintendent of New Plymouth —all retiring on superannuation—and of Miss Trevor, Superintendent of Arohata —who resigned to be married. It will be seen that there has been over the past few years a heavy depletion of the senior ranks, which, when coupled with shortened staff, has made the task of administration unusually difficult. As this will be my last annual report I feel constrained to make special reference to the Prison staff, both by way of appreciation and encouragement. During the past ten years, more particularly since the war years, the staffing position until quite recently steadily deteriorated, in the result that a heavy burden has been thrown on the shortened staff, and at times has given rise to concern for security. Few suitable men have been offering for the Service, and the Department has been obliged to appoint men who •ordinarily would be rejected because of not being up to the requisite standard. As a •consequence defections have been higher than would otherwise have been the case. For example, of the 138 new appointments since Ist April, 1947, 82 have been paid off. This turnover of staff is disrupting and inconvenient from an administrative point of view. Prison-work is undoubtedly exacting and calls for high personal qualities. It is not .always pleasant, it involves regular week-end duty and turns of night duty. Because of this many of our staff are lured to other occupations by the attraction of easier •conditions or better pay outside the Service, although recently the salary scale has been improved and further recommendations to this end have been made.

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