BURNHAM'S WORST.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 13118, 29 October 1906, Page 6

BURNHAM'S WORST.

THE TJMARU GOAL |*&opoSAL. I % FEELING IN T ji® TOWN. ! A representative tb« ; " Timaru Herald" saw. a fev f people oil Saturday to te' feeling that may prevail .regarding suggestion made <IW--1 ing the hearing (£> j evidence in " the BuriiL ham inquiry, r i n Mr Bishop's report, that rfje i<>ld Timaru goal should .be used as : reformatory for .the worst - Burnhami boys and youths. . i : One :of • ijhjiorougii councillors for the ward ip the gaol property stands,, Counci spoke emphatically *g amf A ifeife proposal, as mischievous in. its e " ec ' t iqpon the value of property ?ih that irttfer 'if carried ojit-.. The mere fact of - ? Jtefg -near .such an jnstitution .would deter r _/»iple from, buying, in that ii&ighbourhood is -freely :as they otherwise would. li} i would be idore t6 J dut up apd sell'

(the property —it is too 'small in any case -—and buy a larger piece : of good land \ •somep'Jiere in the country. . The gaolj >buildings would not be worth anything a,s : they 5 stand, and should' be cleared aivay, ' They would not go far towards housing a lot of Burnham undesirables. either more would'' have, to .be added, and the Government might as well make a complete job of it on a iiew site. Councillor Patks hinted that if proposal made to- carry, out the. suggestion, he would get up a®, indignation: meeting in- his ward to-protest-iagainst it. Mr Jamffi- Granger lived! for some years near .the gaol, -and' though : he, lives there mo longer,; he. knows the locality well.. Mr Grahgei rthinks-it wouldfoe a veyy: great pity -".to make use of that Valuable and desirable .piece -of building iground for "such a purpose. It would. be- wiser toself building purposes, and Ituy -a. larger. piece somewhere else. .Mr 'Granger ' and Councillor Parks concurred -in estimating the minimum value of the land at £BOO per acre. ' , .• j Councillor uAllan was of opinion 'that': the idea suggested ought not . to be. 9ar-.-ried out. ; It would affect' : the- value of land about the and .the .place, is not large enough to. keep a lot >of lads employed. It wouldL be tetter to»-sell it and buy a larger piece of land a. few miles from any town, on which the boys could make their institution, self-supporting. They could not be profitably employed on so small a.; piece of ground. Mr G. O. Claytoi, .builder, thougit the idea objectionable, froiafche townspeqple's point of yiew," and from the State's uneconomical. '.The boys couli not be kept employed . <>ni so small a piece of ground, and woidd have to be kept picking, oakumi or vdoingr something equally unprofitable. • The Mayor, Mr Craigie, was not disposed to ; entirely condemn the proposal. 'There were pros to it, as well as cons. The principal objection! to it" seemed .to be the sentimental one; people did not like the idea of having a .gaol in the town. But it was used as a gaol now, and formerly was a permanent gaol, and nobody was.any the -worse for it. He knew that • some of the residents ini the neighbourhood of the * gaol , were veiy angry at the proposal but he could mot see eye to eyq -with them exactly. He would be very sony to see the place surrounded''by an ugly iron fence. He had! gone" to som«( expense himself to improve the West Belt,, and of course would not like to see the Avenue oa one side of the road opposite an ugly fence, on the other. He would protest against .that very strongly. He had..spoken, to Mr Hall-jones about it j jmd the ;"Miiiister 1 assraed -him; that if the 'suggestion-. ;svas carrifsd; ...out, the fence should »6t ; be, an, eyesore,. In;, favour of the proposal it v might, -be mentioned 1 that an instittition of that sort, with a. number of incites "and a number of officials, would mean; a good deal'of money.-spent its the town every year, instead of anoney being collected by rates or taxes to support an . institution elsewhere. That was .not a pleasant way of looking at the matter perhaps, . but it ,-was. an item ,to be put in the balance against opposition to the scheme.' ' The institution must ....be somewhere. On the other hand, looking at it from the money point of view, it would not be an economical place to; keep a lot of lads. They should larger place,, wherei they would l be able to find plWty J of employment,' so .that tney 'could be self-supporting. Timaru' gaol "ground was jt»o,iSmalli for that end gaineilj an.d [ perhapsi that was really the strongest objection to the proposal.