The Timaru Herald MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1906. THE GAOL PROPOSAL.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 13118, 29 October 1906, Page 4

The Timaru Herald MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1906. THE GAOL PROPOSAL.

WlifSn the Government come to look into Mr BisliopV recommendation that the dis- . used gaol in Timaru should' be turned to account as an asylum for the ivorsti elements in Burnham, we hope that, if nothing else deters them from giving effec* to the Commissioner's suggestion, the impossibility of finding' in such 'a small area profitable occupation for a colony of boys, will give the quietus .to the proposal. The Mayor, with a. keen eye to business, ap» pears. inclined to favour the idea because the maintenance of the officials and the inmates of the reformatoiy will mean extra trade for the grocers and butchers of the town. We suspect, however, that tiiw is an' argument which might cut two ways. Possibly the trade which a, reformatory would' toring with. it might, mean the loss of a certain amount of a more desirable class of trade, for we cannot believe that the reputation of the town as a desirable 1 place of residence would be enhanced by the localion in our midst of >the " moral lepers" and' the "mental defectives " whom Mr Bishop is anxious to see removed from Burnham. The introduction of such an element, even if it was securely caged behind some ornamental barrier, might easily keep ciway people' whose trad© would bt* ■worth *a good deal more than itihat of the proposed reformatory, and wo believe that it would have an influence in depreciating the value of property, not only in the immediate vicinity of the gaol,, but in the whole of Timaru. We all know what , sort of a name Burnham has acquired owing to the uses to which it ha* been put, and there is very little doubt in our own mind that if Mr Bishop's suggestion is carried into effect, a few years will cause the colony at large to connect Timaru with the same associations a« have given Burnham ite unenviable reputation. There may be a certain amount of •stupid . sentiment about the objection we haver I raised to the creation of a local reform aI tory, but the fact remains that such, institutions are not desirable neighbours, and most people would prefer* as Mr Parks does, to be well away from ithem, even St the loss of the money which they necessarily put into circulation. It is, to our way of thinking, a great mistake ever to> put such standing monuments to human frailty, as gaols, asylums or reformatories, in thickly populated, localities. Wo should prefer to liavc thcin ais far as possiblekept out of the public eye, for they arc

calculated 'to exewise a depressing, evenj perhaps a-dfigis&ng, influence ©a those -who have them obtruded on their notice. Bat whether that is so or not, nobody ■will pretend that the existence of a gaol or a reformatory tends to improve the residential attractions of a locality. One never finds such institutions in the fashionable quarter of any city, and when it is possible to do so, tie residents of Timaru mnv just 35 Tt ' keep the -whole town free from an undesirable adjunct- which would not be tolerated in the better parts of the la:ge cities'. ■ It feems to us that the benefits likely to be derived from the existence of the reformatory, so far as Timaru is concerned, are almost certain to be outweighed by the disadvantages, and we are glad that the people most immediately affected have no love for Mr Bishop's suggestion. Nor does it seem at all probable that the disused gaol would afford the best opportunity for dealing with the class of patients whom it is proposed to place there. Mr Craigie shares the general opinion that the reserve is too sn:all for the purpcse, and we may hope thru- this view will impress ittself upon the Government also when the matter comes up for consideration.