PRISON REFORM.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 270, 14 November 1910, Page 8

PRISON REFORM.

NOBLE ACT OF LEGISLATURE. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. At the opening of the criminal sessions of the Supreme Court to-day Sir Robert Stout, in his charge to the Grand Jury, said he was glad to be a/ble to tell the jury that the Crimes Act would come into force at the beginning of next year, constituting a new etep in prison reform. Prisoners were not to be treated merely as men up for punishment. Steps were being taken to •reform them and help them to lead better lives in future. Wages would be paid to them if they worked well. He hoped the means now being adopted ■would have a beneficial effect. "We cannot hope," he added, "that any scheme will be at once satisfactory, and we can't yet expect there will be no criminals. Crimes may be the result of heredity, and a man's physical, moral, or mental well-being may ihave been weakened. We have seen by statistics that criminality is a matter of descent, and we cannot expect therefore to have no offences; but, by taking them in hand, it snould be possible to make good citizens of them. At all events, it is a noble act of the legislature, and the Minister of Justice deserves every credit for this efforts in this direction."