FURTHER ECONOMY

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 124, 29 May 1933, Page 8

FURTHER ECONOMY

DEPARTMENTS COMBINE

JUSTICE AND PRISONS

JJNDEE ME. B. L. DALLIED

In eonsequoncc of the retirement of Mr. E. P. Ward from the position of Under-Secrotary of Justices Cabinet has decided, in further pursuance of its; policy to economise in the costs of departmental administration, to amalgamate the Justice and the Prisons Departments and to place- Mr. B. L. Dallard, afc present Controller-General of Prisons, in charge of the combined Department. In making an announcement to that effect today, the Minister of Justice (the Hon. J. G. Cobbe) stated that the Government, in. continuation of its policy, was economising in every direc- j , tion and every opportunity offering! for curtailing expenditure in the public services without impairing the efficiency of those services was being availed of. In making the Justice and the Prisons Departments ono Department under ono head economy in the cost of administration would be effected. For many years prior to 1918 the Prisons Department came under the Justice Department, but in that year it was constituted a separate department, and the lato Mr. C. E. Matthews was appointed Controller-General of Prisons. Gn the retirement of Mr. C. B. Jordan in 1922 from the position of Under-Seeretary of Justice, Mr. Matthews assumed control of the two Departments, but on his death in. 1924 the Departments were again separated, and have remained so ever since. The special Cabinet Economy Committee set up in 1931—under the chairmanship of the Hon. Sir Apirana Ngata—and the recent National Expenditure Commission both recommended that the two Departments should again bo merged, and advantago is now being taken of the opportunity to givo effect to this recommendation. Mr. Dallard. has had a wide administrative experience in the Public Service, and has an. extensive knowledge of commercial affairs, ho having been advisory accountant to the Board of Trade during the immediate post-war period and later .being in the Public Servico Commissioner's Office, first as inspector and afterwards as Assistant Public Service Commissioner. Ho has been in charge of the Prisons Department since February 1, 1926, and during his period of office considerable development has taken place in the industrial side of the Department's activities, particularly in respect of the prison farms. The development of the Borstal system, and the introduction of the ■Voluntary Probation Committees making provision for more effective after-care of prisoners, have also been matters that have received his special attention.