LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15433, 20 April 1912, Page 4

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

PRISON REFORM: A MISNOMER,

Sin,—As ono wlio U thoroughly conversant with tho lifo of prisoners in tho liiTcrcargill Reformatory 1 would liko to givo your readers somo aspects of tho so-called prison reform; wlwch has now boon in forco for over a year. My opinion is that Ihoso responsible for this reform wero vttorly ignorant of tho first principles of prison roform, as I shall ondcavoiir to prove. All prisonors, Vbothcr first, offenders or not, would picfor to have a hard-labour fentcnoo to u detention .wntenco, which llioy get under this now act. Tho detention sohtonco ia usually for a period about twioo tho length of a hardlabour sentenco, and it wholly depends on tlio gnolor, or oven a warder, whether tho poor unfortunate prisoner has to sorvo his lull sentence or not, I admit that tho tribunal, tlio Prison Board, which recommends dotention prisoners for dfechargo is coni|K)sed of worthy and capable members and its work is by no means an easy one, but the gaoler's recommendation is tho principal determining factor in tho roleaso of the prisoner. Some of tho wardors in our prisons aro anything but lmmano in tlioir treatment of prisoners, and I rogrot to staio that I have noticed wardorg taking a "set 1 on certain prisoners, and if theso happen to bo detention men their pros-p-cois of rolcase beforo their full sentence expires aro very remote. Tho anomullv of this humane reform strikes ono very forcibly when \vn read that wino of the judge* in sentencing prisoners state- that they will not bo severe on them—that thoy will not givo a hard-labour sentence, but will givo them a period of detention, which in every ca.se » moro than double, what tho offenders would havo received if t hey had received hard-labour sentences. I can confidently toy that tho detention men I havo been associated with, almost without exception, worked harder than tho hardlabour fentenco moii. I,'also know of cases whoro 12-month detention prisoners, whoso conduct and industry havo been exomplary have 6crved longer terms than thoso sorving a 12-montiis' hard-labour sentence. Surely when this aot was passed it was not intended that anomalies Jifcc this should occur.

Tho Jnvcrcargill 'Reformatory Prison is supixsod to bo principally for youths and most of tho youthful criminals of the Dominion aro sent there. Thoro is a certain kind of clarification of prisoners there but it U anything but satisfactory. i? o ' r instance, thero are habitual criminals (one eorving his second indeterminate sentence) assixyatiiif with first olfendcns sentenced under this detention system. There arc alto prisoners serving their fourth ami fifth terms of imprisoiunont aosociutinf! with 'youtlis serviug their first sentence. I am very sorry to have to stato that tho times allowed for oxorciso in the yards aro devoted to foul and suggestive, conversation among tho prisoners, as thoy have nothing of a bright and cheerful naUiro to occupy their minds. I would suggest that they might bo allowed to participate in somo liarmless gomes; and \rhat harm would tho introduction of noiropapen (which, I l>olievc, id pormissiblo in the tree-planting cam|«) do to • tho poor, unfortunato prisoners? Those responsible for prison rofr- should find out in what way prison rofoi... is carried out in CucJph, Canada, and Monpellior and Michigan,

U.S.A., whon they would haTe their eyes opened in jognrd to humane methods of dealing with criminals. Kvch tho Stato of Tasmania has a hoUor and moro humane tiKTthcxl than this so-called prison roform. In Nmv Zealand v?e Imvo a highsalaried official of tho Prison Department called a criminologist, but in a period ot two years this oflicinl has mndo only thrco very short visits to tho youths in (ho Itivorcargill Reformatory, and although school is conducted Uicro on thrco ovenings a week, only onco during tliis poriod of two years did this official address the pupils of tho school, and that was for about 10 minutes on tho abstruoo subject of psychology.—! am, etc.. As Ex-FnisoNEn.

THE ROSLYX MAYORAL CONTEST. Sin,—At his meeting on Wednesday overling (> Mathi'soi; took ocoasion to refer to iny previous letter in your paper. It is rather sirango that if tho statement contained in that letter is an "aUoluto falsohootl," that he should blamo a member of the council for it. I say, without tho lcart hesitation, that I am not a member of tho council, and you, Sir, can bear mo cut in this. Cr Mn'theson apparently forgets that council ii'cctings are open to tho ratepayers. And still I am a April 18. Scknysidg Ratevayer. THE CHAI'MAX-AI.EXANDER MISSION. Sin—Tho dotnwtions servo their end in attracting attention and stimulating inquiry on tho tact of many who, otherwise, niiislit have remained indifferent. It remains to bo seen whether eongrogat : ons. ministers, oflico-beators, and members have, not got an insuirution and uplilting somo of thorn wero greatly needing. Had! Mr Buxton boon present at tho old |>coplos gathering or tho services in First Chinch, for instance, on Good Friday, it would surely liavo been an eyo-openor to hurt, or any of his way of thinking.—l am. etc, v New Chcu.

THE FALLACIES OF "A. M." AND CO. Slit,—TJtoro is neither time nor space to follow "A. M." aJid ".I. It" in all their tortuositicti. It is hard to deal with a writer like "A. Al." lie Buys that I object to being sneered at myiclf. .My words tvoro "a sneering referoncu to our mission" — not la myself. If ho holds that ho did not sneer at our mission, then ho lies a mcoiling of bis own for " sneer." Again, ho says that his pet book ''contains innumerable statements mado by missionaries, most of which go to show that on the religious sido theso missions practically ore failures." Tho reader of this might Biipposo tiiat tho book contains a largo number of admissions by missionaries that their religious work is it failure. What the book does contain is (i number of quotations from the writings of missionaries and others, which the author of the book considers as indicative of their failure—a very different thing. Indeed, tho vory accounts penned by missionaries as proof of MictTKs tiro taken by tho critic to prove their failure. "J. R." says I Itavo "trailed a red herring across tlio scent." Well, I find that I haw to deal with quito a slioal of such, trailed by himself and "A. M." llappdy, they are all quite dead, some of them ycty " lichy " indeed. It is not true that "it us a rare- tiling" for Europwuu in India and China to have Christian house servants. This is a very old "traveller's tale." Thera are certain Europeans who will not engage Christian servants, and ihoro tire Christian servants who will not servo certain Europeans. Anyone who has lived;in tho East knows why. Death of herring No. 1. "A. M." says ho was " roading about" a "prominent missionary" whoso sorvunta wore all heathen. Of courso they wero all heathen before they bceamo Christian;■ but if he wishes us to belicvo that the missionary engaged heathen servants to keep them heathen, because they gave, better service than Christians, all 1 can £ay is that " A. 11." very considerably underrates (ho intelligence and overrates the credulity of your readers. That is just a " snake yam," very liko many others current in Eastern duos and in globe-trotter's annals. It id imioli easier to pass scandal along than io investigate its accuracy, and thero is too much of " I lioanl this " and " 1 read that" ill tlieso stories. They aro just scandal. Death of herring No. 2. "A. II." cavils at tho testimony of Count Okama and Lieneral Li, who aro not Christians; but if the evidence of Cbristiar.fi had been given, lip would have objected that they wero biassed. If " the hcatlwn Chinese aro bettor to deal with Hum converted ones all tho time," there must be something queer about the dealer. I am reminded of a party of Europeans who sjxiko to mo in loud praise of a heathen Chinese: "He 6houtod lor us all round," Uloy said, "like a real Christian."

"J. R." surely knows that a name, given with intent to mislead, and backed up by the false iioso of the writer throughout hia book, is not a mcro " uom do plume." In mi ordinary court of justice, u witness who pretended to be someone clso would bo discredited; but any sort of a witness seems good enough for H.l'.A. admirers. Listen to the writer of tho "Appeal":—"l plead guilty to tJio charge of Doing a Eurojwan resident in (Jhinii, and throw myself 011 tho mercy of tho court." What u noblo plea! "J. It." trails u herring about tho Buffering and misery brougJit u|>on China by missionaries. Doubtless he will blanio tho slapping enterprise lor tho suffcruig and misery caused by Uio Titanic wreck. Where there aro progress and rclorni tlicro is suro also to be a certain amount of suffering— even close association with tho Lord Jesus Clirist led ono man to commit suicide; but the happiness produced outweighs tho misery ten thousand times. Tliat is another dead lierring.

.Mr liuxlon must bo ill-acquainted with H.l'.A. publications if he requires proof f.'iut their "object is to discredit and distort tJto facts and records of Christianity," Hut no doube ho will disagree with mo" as to what aro "facts," so its is uselces for us to argue.

Finally, what of tho " immense falling off" in missionary contributions, over wluoh all the correspondents aro rejoicing? What does it amount to? In tho year 1906 tho " homo income " of tlio Foreign mission societies, apart from tho Bible Societies (£350,000) was £4,21)6,000; in 1910, £5,091,200; in 1911, £5,059,400. Tho year's decrease wan £54,800—sliglutlv over threo halfpence in the pound. 'Ihoso H.l'.A. folk make a terrible cry over a very littlo wool, lint hold on! Tho decreaso was quite wiped out by the "field income," which rose from £707.000 in ,1906 to £1,050,000 in 1910, and £1,104,000 in 1911-an incroafio of £54,000; making tho net incrcaso for (no year of £10,200. Most forward movements fluctuate, and tho missionary enterprise may slacken now and then, only to riso higher and higher. Mr Buxton elegantly terms it "stupendous folly," but tho Apostlo Paul c!:oso to be a " fool" of thifi sort,' and ho was an abler man than Mr JJnxton. A hundred years henco tho five millions will 1» fifty million*, and tho adjective •'stupendous" will faint from weakness.-I am, etc.. Alex. Don. Dunodin, April 19.