FIFTY YEARS AGO

Nelson Evening Mail, 15 May 1917, Page 2

FIFTY YEARS AGO

((From the Mail of 15th May, 1867.) | We understand that tenders have been accepted by; the •Government for the construction) of an important addition to the present gaol, which-, as our readeis aire probably aware, has been found utterly inadequate for the reception of die increased number of prisoners brought down to /Nelson, especially from the West (Coast. Tt is proposed .to make an addition of 24 feet to the main building, the uj>per floor of which will contain seven cells, three of these bein<j intondedi for female prisoners, a. requirement. which has been very much felt in the gaol, and on the lower floor will 'be a day-room for female prisoners, a kitchen, a turnkey's room, and two dark cells. The addition will, we understand, be carried out immediately, it being found impossible to carry out the requisite discipline within the present confined 'buildings of the gaol. It may indeed ,be regretted that the Government did not determine on building a g-iol more suited to our present requirements and on a different site, but it must be remembered that the necessity for this addition is imperative and immediate, and the erection of a gaol on another site -could not be carried out under less than 10 or 12 months, and, would costseveral thousands, whilst the cost of the present addition 'will be onlv £4OO. Per haps we shall! find the best solution of this difficulty in the formation by the General Government of a central penal establishment for the whole colony, where prisoners condemned to more than two or three years' imprisonment, may be confined and properly classified. This necessity lias been repeatedly urged upon the attention of the General Government by the public press of the colony. but hitherto without effect. Such an establishment would, at all events, relieve us of 'the odious spectacle which daily meets our eyes of criminals of the deepest dy e associated with juvenile and other comparatively innocent offenders, on the public works in our streets.