PRISON LABOUR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22963, 19 August 1936, Page 9

PRISON LABOUR

COMPETITION WITH PRIVATE ENTERPRISE MINISTER EXPRESSES HIS VIEWS 9 (From Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, August 18. The opinion that the prisoner was just as entitled to sell the product of his labour as anyone else was expressed by the Minister of Justice (Mr H. G. R. Mason), when referring to the competition of prison labour with private enterprise during consideration of the Estimates of the Department of Justice and Prisons in the House of Representatives to-day. Mr Mason said that the Prisons Department demanded fair prices for its products. Nothing in the nature of a destructive attitude had been adopted. The first thing, Mr Mason said, was the rehabilitation of the prisoner. It was essential that the prisoner should maintain his self-respect, and the first element in that connection was to have him engaged in useful w<prk. The prisoner remained a man just as a man outside. The resemblances were, perhaps, more important than the differences. Useful work was very necessary for the prisoner, and it was very difficult to find work that did not come into competition with outside interests. He would look into the matter and see to what extent competition could be minimised. “I cannot give an assurance that the products of prison labour will not be sold,” he concluded.