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Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3040, 24 March 1881, Page 2

•■aptais Hume, the newly-appointed Inspector of Prismas, having had his attention called t- cases of information hsviug '• 'timunicated without authority to the Prees by members of the prisou service, hv-. issued a circular to the gaolers, in v;hi.,h he says;—"l have entire confident; ;bat this irregular conveyance of information is a practice to which the great of the prison officers would not stoop ; \>v.t, however few may be the officers in fault, their acts cause extensive miscbiv 'by sowing suspicion, and by discredit!, r the Service, I am ot opinion i>il such breaches of official confidence are off "ices of the gravest character that a prison officer can commit, and should, when discovered, be visited by instant dismissal." Thus Captain Hume (says the Tablet) has issued strict orders that all things are to be carried on rigidly under the rose, and that the mischievous newspapers are to be given no information whatever, unless it come to them in the way of red tape and the Circumlocution Office. There may be those, however, who are of opinion that the leas mystery there is made about anything connected with our public institutions trie better. If there is anything counected with their circumstances or manaDtrement that the authorities consider undesirable for the public to know, it is plainly a state of things that should nut exist; atid it ought to be the first duty of an inspector of prisons to remedy it, and see that nothing goes on there that may not be published to the whole world. We cannot congratulate this gentleman signing himself 'P. A. Hume, captain, inspector of prisons,' on his circular of orders ; it is a very foolish document, and betraye the mere emptyheaded martinet. By the way, wbose particular protege is the gallant captain, and where did he come from? Does anyone know besides some Minister ? Meantime it is an insult to the Press centrally to imply that it is ready to publish idle gossip surreptitiously obtained, and circulated to do mischief.