BUILT BY PRISON LABOUR.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 55, 5 March 1917, Page 4

BUILT BY PRISON LABOUR.

| . WAIMARirfO-TOKAAMTJ ROAD. ITS ADVANTAGES AND ATTRACTIONS. A VALUABLE WORK. (From Our Special Correspondent.) 1 TOKAANU, February 26. j In these days when little money is available for the making of roads in the Dominion and the war depleting the labour market, no one can cavil at the policy of the Prisons Department to utilise prisoners in road construction work in certain isolated districts where connection is needed,, and where settlement will come with the clearing of the ■bush. Soon after the war began the .then Minister of Justice (the Hon. A. L. IHerdman) found that there was not sufficient work in some of our prisons to keep the men imprisoned busy. The prison camps in the Rotorua district, where prisoners are engaged in the reafforestation of the present eye-offending snow grass and bracken-—ad slopes ana plains, had their complement of prisoners, and to maintain the new policy of the Department to keep the men hard at iwork, a fresh field had to be sought; for which reason, coupled with his desire to see a fine bush-fringed district roaded, the Minister decided to enter upon the large undertaking of completing by prison labour the national highway between Waimarino on the Main Trunk line to Tokaanu, on the southern shores of Lake Taupo. This work, colossal as it is, to be undertaken by prison labour, is now on the way to completion. Tojday the Hon. Mr. Herd—tan and party, j consisting of the Under-Secretary for iJustice (Mr. C. B. Jordan), the Inspector |of Prisons Mr. C. E. Matthews), the General Manager of the Tourist Department (Mr. B. M. Wilson), and the Wellington City Engineer (Mr. W. H. Morton), made in perfect weather the first official trip over the new road in a motor ear belonging to the Prisons Department. THE OFFICIAL TRIP. The Ministerial party left Wellington ;on Sunday night by the Main Trunk express, and detrained at seven o'clock this morning. After breakfast a start was made over the new road in the car for Tokaanu. The Waimarino-Tokaanu road covers a distance of some 40 miles. It stretches for some miles cross the vast Waimarino Plains, and winds itself I through and round some of the finest bush, river, gorge, and mountain scenery I to be seen in New Zealand. The portion of the road constructed by prisoners is a distance of some 20 miles from Wai—larino towards Lake Rota-Aira, and joins up the old constabulary road on to Tokaanu. The part of the road for the construction of which the Prisons Department has -been responsible is quite good for motor travelling, but certain patches of the road upon which the prisoners have not yet been employed reI quire attention to make the road easy for motor traffic. The prisoners engaged on the work are carrying out their ■undertaking thoroughly, and have given proof_ of -what can be done under the -uperintendency of the prison officials. Heavy timbered bridges have been built j—all by prison labour—and those over the deep-gullied streams, Maungahuia and Whakapapanui, rival some of the best of some of our bridges of the kind and same dimensions in other parts in New Zealand. Huge cuttings have had to be made, culverts fetid, stone crushed for metal, great totara trees have had to foe felled and squared into beams for the (bridges. All these big jobs have been carried out with creditable thoroughness, | and the suggestion that the prisoners j would be stuck up when they began to tackle the bridges has been riddled. An inspection of that part of the road built by prisoners by any road expert would likely win nothing but praise for the actual work done by the prisoners, apart from the facilities given by the construe- , tion of the road itself. WHAT THE ROAD OPENS UP. I The new road, it is claimed, when finished will connect up with the Wellington, Auckland, and Taranaki road systems in the west, and with the Auckland, Hawke's Bay, and Wellington road systems on the east. Some experts, in judging land qualities, look to the completion of the road as an inducement to settlement in a district which at present I hasn't any. Other land specialists, said I to be inexpert and inexperienced in judgj ing the soil of much of the country ! through which the road goes, say that by reason of the pumice and the district's high altitude a wide area of the land could, not be profitably cultivated. But in spite of these conflicting opinions, there seems .to be a large area of the country surrounding the Waimarino Plains at present carrying millions of ! feet of timber that when cleared could : be planted in crops and stocked with sheep and cattle. Some of the settlers in the north who have been taking an interest in providing land for discharged soldiers declare that when other lands already broken in give out that a good deal of the country in the vicinity of the new road could be earmarked for preparation in the future for soldier settlers. Whatever settlers find their way on to these lands they cannot help but benefit from the new road built by the prisoners. TONGARIRO NATIONAL PARK. The making of the Tongariro-Tokaanu Road has given better access to that -most picturesque and extensive public reservation, the Tongariro Park, where scarcely any existed before. This park has been -worthily described as the largest and finest in New Zealand. It covered under the original boundaries 62,300 acres, most of it bush country, but -when the new boundaries have been settled its total area will be something like 138,000 acres. Here is a field for the building of i New Zealand's future feature attraction. The main area of the park stretches out east and west belov. those three great snow-dressed mountains, Ruapehu, N«auruhoe, and Tongariro. It takes in part of the mountains themselves. Their beautiful snow and ice covered slopes would be sufficient to send the oversea man with experience in tobogganing and other pastimes on tlie ice, glissading, skiing, into raptures. There are one or two prominent citizens in Wellington and Auckland, notable amongst them the Hon. A. L. Herdman, Mr. H. F. yon Haast, Mr. Cecil A. Whitney. Dr. Newman, M.P., Mr. John 'Cullen, 1.5.0. (exCommissioner of Police), who, recognising the real advantages and attractions of Tongariro Park, have embraced every opportunity to bring this beautiful playground -before the authorities and the •public. ' A FIELD FOR SPORTSMEN. Work is underway fitting out part of the Tongariro Park as a moor for game. As travellers on the Main Trunk railway have noticed, much of the Waimarino Plains is covered with tussock or snow grass, •which is good for nothing. For a long time Mr. Cullen lias been working quietly with a little financial assistance from the Government on a scheme to replace the ' tussock by Scotland's native shrub the

; heather. Then later on it is proposed Ito import grouse, woodcock, and other j fancy table birds, which thrive on the shoots and seed of the heather. Some thousands of plants have been spread over the Waimarino Plains, and are doui" well. Thousands more are in the Government nursery at Rotorua, nearly ready for planting out. Mr. Cullen has already obtained a number of quail, duck, and pheasants, and these have been | liberated in tha park. He is also in negotiation with gaming societies abroad for birds of the grouse and woodcock family to import to New Zealand for the park ■Soon, when it becomes stocked with game, the park will be a paradise for sportsmen. REFORMATION OF PRISONERS. Advocates of prison reform have advanced many theories for the rehabilitation in society of men who make the population of our prisons, but few can doubt the advantages to the prisoners and the State alike afforded by the present policy of the Prisons Department to keep the prisoners hard at work in (where possible) the open air, with good food, and under discipline of the right kind. The results achieved under this system of reformation have been most satisfactory. The prisoners employed in tree-plant-ing in Rotorua and on such a work as the building of the Waimarin-Tokaanu Road have better chances of obtaining a quicker release from detention than do the prisoners confined in the city prisons. They get, in ft sense, preferential treatment. Apart from the healthy nature of their work, they get better facilities for earning marks for larger remissions of their sentences. In addition, the prisoners, especially the men without trades, have opportunities of picking up trades that will be useful to them on their discharge. Another factor that has influenced the Prisons Department in employing prisoners on works likely to be reproductive is the cost of the upkeep of the prisons.