THE MOUNT COOK EYESORE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1367, 12 May 1898, Page 39

THE MOUNT COOK EYESORE.

Not an hour too soon the City Council decided last week to take steps to induce the Government not to go on with the Mount Cook Gaol project. Councillor Devine, who raised the question, has by doing so earned the thinks of the city for reminding it of a which has to") lontr he'nn ne £ I ' c '■"■ *• T l * ot *iginal P* l IU of this gaol was to tniko it a central p>ml depot. All the worst of the country's criminals were to be herded up there in the heart of the city. New Zealand's greatest wrongdoers were to be chosen for mobilisation at Mount Cook, and the spectacle of such a collection of embodiments of vice was specially reserved for Wellington. That idea has been abandoned, we believe. The present scheme is to simply make the place serve the purposes which a Wellington Central Gaol would ordinarily servo. Even in that capacity, however, the gaol is odiously, offensively objectionable. Ostentatiously stuck there in one of the most noticeable spots in the city, it continually invites questions from new arrivals in the pjrt as to what building that conspicuous one may bo. The inevitable answer is that it is a gaol. Thus buv gaol is blatantly paraded as one of the unavoidable sights of the city; criminality is advertised on top of a central hill; and the people who live in that neighbourhood are tfo b& daily eutfjse&d .to laost uupleasant

contiguity to a prison, not to speak of the danger they also incur of prisoners breaking loose and levying toll on them. There is no necessity to have a gaol there. It is undoubtedly necessary to have a town gaol as a sort of reoeivinghouse for the city's criminals. Bat wo already have the Terrace Gaol for that purpose, and doubtlesa a small expenditure would make it amply aoeommodative for all such requirements for many years to come. If a larger depot is required it should be located away from the town, but easily accessible to it, and in a plaea where prisoners could be employed on work proficiency in which would be useful to them afterward in the way of enabling them to earn their liviugs respectably. Besides, the Mount Cook Gaol will have to be completed at great expense before it can be fully ready for occupation. Its only tenants so fat have been the Maoris who are now being released in batches, and if the city bestirs itself it may prove possible to prevent it housing any more felons. A half promise has been made, we believe, that these 14 acres would be given as a site for the Victoria College. The present buildings could be adapted to that purpose. The frontages could be leased on terms which would ensure a handsome revenue. And about the most conspicuous spot in the city oould then be pointod to as being hot a penal settlement, nob a Choice collection of selected criminal?, but a seat of learning. That is the explanation we must strive to make true by agitating against th-j gaol scheme. The plan to put a gaol on Mount Cook is an attempted insult to the city which ought to be repelled with unceasing vigour. It can be repelled. Successive Governments have tinkered with the work for years, bub have all failed so far to get it completed—partly for lack of money, parily because there was a hesitating fear that the people of the city disliked the project. The, present Government is no better in that than its predecessors, for apparently the building is now being put into readiness for early occupation. That must be stopped if possible. The City Council, perceiving this necessity, has instructed the Mayor to interview the Premier on the subject, and -if such a course should be found advisable public meetings will be called and petitions signed with a view to preventing this affront being put upon the city. The decision to leave the matter . with Mr Blair i 3 a wise one, for no public man is better qualified than he is in ability, in experience and in high repute, to load such an agitation to a successful conclusion. Under his guidance we have the best to hope for. It is advisable, however, that he should be backed by the public in an unmistakable way. Petitions against the completioa of the gaol, for use as suib, should bo circulated and signed at once. Because there is no time to be lost. We have good reason for saying that unless early precautions are taken the gaol will be firmly established, and it will then be too late to escape the offensive proximity of the institution. With a view to facilitating this agitation, which is one that ought to ba vigorously supported by every citizen, petitions to the Government have been prepared by The TiafES, and will be circulated for signature to-day. We trust that in the city's interest these petitions wiil be largely signed.

Unless immediate precautions are taken by the people of thi3 city, the Mount C)ok Gaol will presently be to such an extent an established thing thit there will be no removing it. It will not be merely a Wellington gaol. In time—and that very speedily—it will be made a colonial gaol ; the impudent, .offensive scheme of the Government that originally started the building will be followed, and the pick of the country's most desperate crimiuals will be dumped down here. The fact that the building has already been used (in the case of the New Plymouth M loris) as a gaol may be cited at any ra*»n : mt as a precedent for permanently regarding is in that capacity. Already it id in eoutempiatioa to use the completed wing for the accommodation of prisoners. Therefore it is in this connection a question for the citizjns of now or never. The last opportunity of protesting against this ujly wen of criminality being pennant " ••■ .fifced on to the city's face is rapid!; ivi> : »g away. Aside from the objectio i o-euess of the gaol being planted in such i position, and the audacity of the proposal to make Wellington a penal centre for the whole colony, there is to be considered the question of whether or not a central gaol is an advisable thing. We assert that it is not. A central gaol implies a necessity for herding up specially bad criminals under one roof, thereby fastening on to them such a reproach of irreclaimabieness as is likely to cause them tobec>mo irreclaimable. For illustration New Ciledonia, where France's primest criminals are concentrated, is a central gaol. We do not need a New Caledonia in New Zealand yet; but this central gaol scheme is based on the supposition that we do. Tke aim of pristm methods should be id

reform while they punish. A sufficient punishment is represented by confinement under proper regulations and the prisoners deprivation Of liberty and opportunities of earning remuneration among free citizens. Society, however, owes a further duty to its convicted persons, the duty of showing them better ways of life. How can it fulfil this obligation ? Not by trying to teach prisoners trader, because that has been shown to be ineffectual. Prisoners, even under long sentence?, cannot or will not become sufficiently proficient in trades to enable them to compete with f'reo tradesmen. Not, either, by the old, b.'.r!?ar?u3 method* of compelling thorn to pick oakum, walk treadmill?, or shift piles of shot. Ibe best way of effecting reform seems to be by educating prisoners in such pursuits a 3 road-making, quarrying, nursery gardening and tilling. lu such work they may do much good for the community as well as for themselves. The community might be benefited in several "ways as applied to our own c*ise. If, for instance, prisoners were employed in making a chain-wide road to the pilot station, or even round most of the present route of fciie Queen's Drive, the city would acquire a convenience and au attraction it badly needs, and acquire it cheaply ; the cost of the necessary land being a fair charge, in part at least, against the owners. A valued correspondent reminds us that in Wanganui most profitable work has been done by prisou labour on the reserves which so creditably distinguish that pleasant and well-equipped town—work, it should be remembo'-ed, which would nob have been done under froo 7abour conditions. Another way of employing prison labour would be in a nursery, from which plants could be supplied to all parts of the colony. This would bo a colonial, not a Wellington institution, because all parts of the country would benfit by it. The central gaol scheme iguores any such possibilities as these. It is planned on the old military gaol eysteui which experience has proved to be as humanly bad as it is morally ineffective. Under such a policy as we have outlined discharged prisoners are incited to go afield to look for work in country districts. Under the military or central gaol policy they are thrown out in the midst of a community which, because it knows them, regards them with suspicion, and so incites them to commit more crimes.

This question is one of special local interest to Wellington, however. Is this gaol to be started and maintained in the most noticeable part of the city? That is what has to be answered at once ; because, as we have said, preparations are afoot for using the site for this abominable purpose. The only way of emphatically answering it in the negative is by bringing representative pressure to bear on the Government. The Mayor having undertaken this duty we may rest assured that it will be faithfully and properly performed so far as he is concerned. Bat he should be supported by the strong of the city,/so that the Government may be unmistakably informed that the people dislike and lesenb the project. "No gaol on Mount Cook " ought to be the rallyiug cry for a vigorous agitation. If another gaol is wanted here, let the Government find a site for it further awsiy from the main streets of the ci'y. And if any additional reasons to those which moral propriety dictates for a change of site are required, one which may be quoted is the persistent rumour that Mount Cook will be handed over to the Victoria College if the present Opposition comos into office.