THE DUNEDIN GAOL ENQUIRY

Timaru Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 2764, 2 August 1883, Page 3

THE DUNEDIN GAOL ENQUIRY

(By Telegraph.) Ddhbdik, Aug. 1. The enquiry was resumed this morning. Mr Solomon again represented Mr Caldwell. Captain Hume, Inspector of Prisons, continued his evidence. He said : After the receipt by the gaoler of a, circular from me, Mr Logan, Visiting Justice, wrote as follows on December 6th, 1881 : — "Memo for the Hon. the Minister for Justice : — Boferring to the interview Mr James Brown and myself had with you last Saturday, I annex a copy of the circular referred to by me, by which you will seo that I was right in. my recollection of it. It hag not been withdrawn or modified. I would strongly advise ita immediate withdrawal, as it is embarrassing and annoying. It cannot be expected that a Minister for Justice can personally look into these matters so that it comes to this, _ that the decisions of one or more Visiting Justices on the spot are to be reviewed by the Inspector of Prisons at Wellington from documents transmitted to him, as if the Civil servants were under military rule. The Legislature never intended such a thing. It would be unfair to the Civil servants, and degrading to the Visiting Justices. If the Visiting Justices are found to be incompetent, Ist the Government remove them. I have been very much disappointed to find that since the appointment of the Inspector of Prisons, the only result has been the increase of correspondence to tho detriment of the public service. I had hoped otherwise. The Department in Wellington appears to labor to create work in Wellington and in the various gaols. When dealing with charges against officers in the gaol at Dunedin, which I am happy to say is a xeiy rare thing, of courso we take the whole case into consideration, and if necessary recommend the degradation or dismissal of the officer if we

think that a fino does not meet the .vise. Then, with regard to the cab hire question. Mr Logan wrote on the 2nd of the same month : — ' From my knowledge of Mr Ciildwell, before and eince ho has had charge of the Duncdin Qaol, I can testify that I have never known an officer more careful in looking after expenditure. All his vouchers pnssed through my hands during tho l'rovincial days. I very much regret to see the irritating letters and memos from the Inspector of Prisons to the Gaoler regarding cabs and other matter*. 1 I may mention that for one trip for a cab from the gaol to the Supremo Court the charge was 7s 6d." Mr Whitefoord : I think tho whole question is not with regard to the expense incurred, but whether your orders should not havo been carried out irrespective of the expense. After referring to tho ease- of tho prisoner Moffatt, Captain Hume continued : In June of last year a prisoner named Kitto, awaiting trial for murder, was removed from there to the Lunatic Asylum. The first I knew of tho matter was reading a telegram in tho Wellington papers that tho prisoner was inarched through the streets to the Asylum handcuffed and accompanied by two warders. The Gaoler was asked by whom tho handcuffs were ordered, and he replied that the gaol surgeon did not visit tho gaol on tho day of Kitto's removal, and that being personally responsible for the safo escort to tho Asylum, ho considered it necossary to handcuff him. On receipt of that I wrote to tho Gaoler as follows :■ — " Relative to Uio removal of a lunatic from the prison to the Asylum at Dunedin : I have the honor to inform you that you evinced a great want of judgmont (which your long servico cxperienco should have prevented) in placing handcuffs on a lunatic without first consulting the gaol surgeon, and I am to direct that in future a lunatic or supposed lunatic or any person under medical treatment, is not to bo placod under restraint without tho concurrence of tho gaol surgeon. Should a prisoner as above doscribed require immediate restraint a straight jacket may be resorted to, but the medical officer is to be at once informed and sanction obtained for its retention or removal You aro directed to inform the gaol surgeon of the purport of tliia letter." Then the following memo was received by tho Minister for Justice : — "We have again to protest against tho Inspector of Prisons meddling with petty details hero which the Act leaves with us to manage on tho spot. With regard to Kitto's removal, the Gaoler is told he evinced n great want of judgment in placing handcuffs on a lunatic without first consulting the gaol surgeon. Wo, knowing Kitto and his peculiar kind of insanity, havo no hesitation in saying that tho Gaolor, not boing allowed to employ a cab, adopted the next best courso, and the gaol surgeon agrees with us. It is the Gaoler who is responsible for the prisoner, and he is bound to take the usual way of preventing an escape, especially when a prisoner is charged with murder, and ho should not be blamed when he only does his duty. The Gaoler would have been blamed had he neglected to take the usual precautions, if the prisoner had taken a run, and that was the only thing which required to be guarded in Kitto's case. Surely the Insptctor is not in earnest when he says the prisoner Bhould have been marched through the streets in a straight jacket. Rather than allow a prisoner who required a straight jacket to bo marched through tho streets of Dunedin we would have raised the cab fare ourselves. The Inspector assumes that the prisoner was under medical treatment, which was not the case. We and the Gaoler are responsible for put ting prisoners in irons, and surely we are better ablo on the ipot to judge what to do, than tho Inspector, 882 miles off. Hero we always work in perfect harmony with the gaol surgeon. We (ire sorry to be obliged to trouble you bo often now an gaol matters. " (Signed) " John Logan. "J. James Brown, " Visiting Justices." Th» witness (Captain Hume) then went on to say that on the 18th October Messrs Logan and Urown, Visiting Justices, communicated with the Minister for Justice, charging him with interviewing prisoners in private, and hearing complaints, tho result of such a course being subversive of gaol discipline Captain Fraser subsequently made a similar complaint. (Witness then referred to the proceedings of Lord Kimberloy and tho Gaol Commission which sat in England, and quoted English usage to show that thoro was nothing irregular in the private examination of prisoners!) Witness stated that some remark had been made about this being a political enquiry and as to his being a partisan. Ho had not tho slightest idea of nny warder who had a voto or how ho exercisedit. Mr Curtis : I think Mr Stout raised tho question. He said something about the enquiry being of a political nature. Captain Hume said that he did not know a single man in New Zealand when he landed in tho country, and he had as many friends on one side of the House as tho other. Mr Solomon : That is not what was meant. Witness said the chief complaint he had to make against the system here was that he could never get a straight answer out of anybody in tho gaol, and that thcro was a great deal of mystery about the place. He had long been convinced that there were abuses which wanted weeding out and which could only bo done by » Royal Commission. Captain Hume waa then cross-examined at length by Mr Solomon. Tho first point taken was with regard to Captain Hume's r«ason for the enquiry and the atcps he h»d taken to obtain it. On the latter point Mr Solomon questioned him to show that Mr Dick, whilo Minister of Justice, had refused it, through knowing all the circumstances, and that it was only after Mr Conolly came into ofßco ho obtained it. Then ho underwent a lengthy questioning about the means ))o had taken to obtain ovidence in interviewing, by appointment, ex-prisoners, warders, etc., to obtuin their statements, and rejecting all evidence in favor of Caldwell. At the eloso Mr Solomon commented upon the action of Sergeant Ferguson, now of Lyttelton, who had given evidence unfavorable to Caldwell, as showing how it could bo reliod upon. Ho said he could produce half a dozen letters from Ferguson to Caldwell expressing gratitude to him and contrasting the management of Lyttelton gaol unfavorably with that of Dunedin. The enquiry was adjourned till to-morrow, and is expected to conclude next Monday.