TREATMENT OF PRISONERS.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17223, 13 August 1921, Page 3

TREATMENT OF PRISONERS.

INTERVIEW WITH SIR ROBERT STOUT. The Chief Justice of Now Zealand, Sir llobert Stout, who has recently been made a Privy Councillor and who is now revisiting England after an absence of many years, lias had an unusually interesting judicial experience (says the "Manchester JGuajdian''). It is years since, after a distinguished career as lawyer, member of the House of Representatives, and Premier, be left the arena of politics to become Chief Justice of the Dominion, and during those years he has administered many laws which arc in England discussed but still beyond the reach, of social- reformers. Talking to a representative of the I 'Manchester Guardian.*' recently, Sir Robert Stout touched brie"y on tho working of some of these laws, The New Zealand Divorce Act years ago recognised more grounds for divorce than exist here, and succeeding altera- , tions have widened its scope* "Our law," said the Chief Justice, "is the same for men and women. We •jfllow divorces on the grounds of desertion for three years, of refusing to grant conjugal rights, of adultery, insanity, and on account of certain crimes. The war has brought more , work to the Divoroe Courts in New Zealand as here; and we have had to deal not only with the divorces of soldiers and' their wives, but with people in all classes of the community affected with the social unrest resulting fro'tt the war. Our law works very wejl. We do not find that it has led to any trouble. The moral atmosphere of Mew Zealand is wholesome, our peopie are well-behaved, and marriage is respected." . Sir Rottert added that while the Solicitor-General lias a power of intervention similar to that of the King's Proctor here, he did not know ofi any case in which that power had had to be used. Sir Robert Stout said thai as yet no women served on New Zealand juries, but he had no doubt their day would come. He did not seem much impressed by the information that in England a Bill was to-be introduced giving women the right to refuse to serve. If a woman was a citizen. he said, she had a citizen's responsibilities. "Public opinion in New Zealand," he said, "regards an outrage on a child as a most serious offence. We can give a sentence of uo to ten years' reformative , treatment. Ido not know of any case where a man convicted of such a serious offence has been let off with a trivial sentence." i Sir Robert Stout had a good deal to say about the methods of dealing with prisoners. Ho said: Our system works very well.. If you test it by th© number of prisoners who commit offences again our results are not equalled anywhere in the world. The. Probation Act has been in force since 1886, and in 1911 an Act was passed providing for reformative treatment, and we Hnd .both these measures extremely sue-, cessful. I suppose not more than-10 or 12 per cent, of thoso who have been put on probation commit offences again. The 1911 Act set up a Prison Board, of seven persons. I have been president since its formation. The other members are representatives of the mental hospitals, prisons, and Justice Department, and three representative citizens. The Board meets several times a year, and it must see at least once a year eachi prisoner who has been sentenced to reformative treatment. He comes before the Board, and It discusses his conduct in gaol. It can recommend the reduction of a.sentence, even- so far as recommending that a man who ha-s been sentenced to seven years' reformative treatment, should have it reduced to three months, and be put on probation. We have hardly ever had to refuse a mitigation of the sentence," continued Sir Robert, and generally we can let the man out on probation. AH classes of offences up to manslaughter may be dealt with by the reformative sentence and the Prison Board, even when a man is serving a sentence of imprisonment with hard labour. Under the other system of the in-* determinate sentence," which is only imposed where there have been four previous convictions or two convictions for' serious offences, the prisoner may be released on probation, but if ho commits another offence ho goes back to prison without further sentence. Sometimes he is released on probation several times. As far as possible, prisoners are set to outdoor work, farming, tree-plant-ing, and 6o on. They 'have farms inseveral districts, one of 2000 acres. About fifty-seven million trees have been planted by prisoners. The outside work is of enormous benefit to the men. Their appetites and their weight increase. They wort well, harder than ordinary men. Very few have to be punished for slacking. They know that their conduct is watched, and that if the Prison Board sees fit they will be released and work found for them. Their prison life trains them to work well, and people are always willing to employ them. I i , i '•