N.Z. PRISON CONTROL

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 54, 28 November 1923, Page 6

N.Z. PRISON CONTROL

PRISON BOARD ATTACKED IN AUSTRALIA

“ALARMING INVASION OF NEW ZEALAND CROOKS'”

ALLEGED DUMPING OF UNDESIRABLES

Under the heading, "An Invasion of Crooks —Dominion Puts Them Over,” the ‘Daily Mail” of Sydney nublishes a remarkable article, as reproduced below. The attention of the Acting Minister of Justice (Sir Francis Bell) was drawn to the statements. While not placing any weight upon the suggestions made, Sir Francis Bell said that they would be investigated and replied to.

‘‘Sydney is suffering,” says the imaginative writer of the “Daily Mail,” “from an alarming invasion of New Zealand crooks- ihe local police have during the past few weeks made startling discoveries which show that numbers of hardened criminals, who were believed to he serving long terms of imprisonment in the Dominion, have been released on condition that they migrate to Australia, and (presumably) prey on our populace instead of their own. Such is the extraordinary stp-te of affairs that the In spec tor-General of Police, MrMitchell, has made representations to New Zealand authorities, 1.-ut- has obtained little satisfaction. He has discovered that even the New Zealand police were not aware that some of the men found here had been discharged from New Zealand gaols. The complete article leads as un"The operation of a benevolent ‘Prison Board’ has been responsible to- making Australia in general, and New South Wales in particular, a dumping ground for the bleak islands outcasts. •‘This board, comprised of persons of more or less benignity, hears the heart-stirring appeals of Bill Sykes and confederates who, on receipt ci a seven years' sentence, sudden >y decide that, given a chance in another lend, thev would be able to reform and conduct Bible meetings instead of crib.cracking expeditions. “The board’s kindly , eyes glisten with tears of sympathy, and its bearded chin wags ruminatingly at memories of Portia, good-wiTI, and mercy, as square-jawed rascals trade so fluently on human foibles. The result is that many desmrate and clever criminals are released each month on the sole condition that they demonstrate lheir reform—and work out their salvation -somewhere else! ‘‘That ‘somewhere else’ is. of course, the land t 0 which boat fares are cheapest. Australia suffers, and New South Wales, being the first port of call, and also being tho land of' opportunity to gentlemen of this description, suffers more than her sister States. _ Last year New Zealand’s offerings were nearly all cracksmen, and they led the local detectives a merry dance for the police here never dreamed of the identity of the men they were chasThis year, however, men who have been quite recently sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for grave crimes have been seen strolling around Sydney and the country. The authorities fondly believed then? to be safely encased behind stone walls in the Dominion. How many have not yet been discovered'- is what is alarming the police who are more than indignant about it. "Sprung on Them.” If the Australian police were supplied with any information about their visitors they would be able to make arrangements by which their movements would be watched, and their reform, 01 otherwise duly noted. Under such circumstances, they say, they would not be so lingered; but it is the springing of crooks oh them “in the dark” that makes them enter an emphatic protest. The New Zealand police, to whom protests have been addressed, have replied that they are by no means responsible for the criminal emigration, and that they themselves were unaware that certain men, seen in Sydney during the past few months, were out of gaol. The Prison Board acts without consulting them in any way. or without giving them particulars as to what decision it has come to. An extraordinary Systran, hardly in tho interests cf society. Mr. Mitchell Sarcastic.

However, the sincerity of the Dominion police organisations is questioned bv police here. Repeated attempts by our Inspec-tor-General to work up an interchange of detectives’ system, such as at present exists between the States here, have failed because of the Dominion’s apathy. “I can quite see their point of view,” said Air. Mitchell, with a grin, when interviewed on the question. “They are more than satisfied to know that their best workers are unloaded over here, and they do not want to assist us in catching them and sending them back.

“The American policy of searing tltem away rather than gaoling them is apparently popular there. Sometimes they do give us. a tip that certain men with records' have embarked for Australia; but those sparse bits of information are very rare, the criminal influx is by no means so rare.” “I do not think any of the statemerits made nao true.” said Sir Francis Bell to a Dominion representative, “but I will go into the matter with the Commissioner of Police, and 1 will then make a statement.” As both tho Minister of Justice (Hon. C. J. Parr) and the Under-Sec-retary of the Department and Control-ler-General of Prisons (Air. C. E. Alatthews) are in Australia, at present, it is probable that the statements have been contradicted, but they were published only on tho morning of the departure of the Maunganui,