THE New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. THURSDAY, MAY 12, 1898. NO GAOL ON MOUNT COOK.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1367, 12 May 1898, Page 20

THE New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. THURSDAY, MAY 12, 1898. NO GAOL ON MOUNT COOK.

In announcing that the question whether or not a gaol shall be established on Mount Cook must be answered by Parliaj ment, the Premier takes a proper constitutional course. The building was authorised by Parliament; a large sum has been spent on it out of the public funds; and it is exclusively the duty of I Parliament, as trustee of those funds, to j decide whether the work shall be completed. The Ministry is in precisely the same position as an agent who, having expended a certain amount of his principal's funds on a project, cannot take it upon himself to nullify that expenditure by abrogation on his own account. So far as that goes, therefore, there is no fair ground for complaint against the attitude the Government has assumed. But the question of greatest importance in this connection is that of what the Government is going to do in the meantime. There is good reason for saying that it i 3 now —or was a few days ago—proposed to use the buildings for gaol purposes. That would mean the permanent dedication of Mount Cook to the hoarding and herding of criminals. Mr Seddon is reported to have said in Parliament last session that " he should be sorry indeed to make that building the University buildings for the district. It would be a standing jar to every youth of the colony to say that they got their teaching in the new gaol building o? Wellington/' The obvious way of obviating that "jar"—which admittedly would be an unpleasant one if well founded —is not to make the building a gaol. It has up to the present only been used for the incarceration of a few harmless Maoris. Why not let its penal function stop at that, at least pending the decision of Parliament ? The Government, having gone so far through its leader as to promise to refer the question to Parliamentary arbitrament, and having by the same medium admitted that the site is an unsuitable one % for a gaol, can reasonably be asked not to go on with the gaol scheme, but to allow the matter to rest in abeyance, s Even if that is done, however, the chances of success in an endeavour to prevent this gaol being stuck and kept in the centre of the city will be small if representative backing is not forthcoming. We are correct, we believe, in saying that the construction of the gaol in that locality is viewed with dislike by the people of Wellington generally. If that is so it should be sharply and unmistakably evidenced to Ministerial eyes, so as to strengthen the Government in its manifest leaning toward a discontinuance of the work for gaol purposes. This could be done, for instance, by a representative deputation to the Premier being arranged—a deputation which would include influential city men and representatives of the city and suburbs and the adjacent country districts in Parliament; for this is a question which concerns country as well as town, as will speedily be learned if another gaol is established here to let its discharged criminals loose in the province. Such a deputation would not be difficult to organise, and it would be able to simultaneously give reasons why the work should not bo proceeded with and voice the repugnance of the people to the whole project. It would also express, almost for frhe ficst time, the view of united Wellington. If that could have boon emphatically expressed vears ago, when the Atkinson Government, started the buildings, there would be no necessity for an agitation now. But the Ministry of that day knew that support from Wellington was a certainty, and took liberties with it accordingly by taking the best, most prominent and healthiest site in the city for a gaol. Since then the idea of a central gaol has been abandoned, and fear of prison made goods coming into competition with the products of free labour has been dissipated by a tax on such goods. It can fairly be represented to the Government that a central gaol has been definitely denounced as undesirable, and that a small additional expenditure on the Terrace Gaol would equip it for all necessary local purposes. It must- not be forgotten that Mr Seddon has given more than one unmistakable proof of his sympathy with what we are now advocating. He declared from the public platform in Wellington recently his opinion that the necessity for a Wellington central gaol I had been obviated by the enforcement of an improved penal system, and since expenditure on the gaol has been suspended-

I What is needed now is a plain and representative intimation to the Government of the city's strong objection to the Mount Cook Gaol, which would mean an assurance to it and to Parliament that the erection of this house of criminality in our midst is resented. If this is given—by an influential deputation, as we suggest—the strong probability is that there will be no gaol on Mount Cook.