NEW ZEALAND PRISONS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12588, 19 August 1910, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND PRISONS.

The head of the Department, in his annual, report, writing on the subject of tree planting camps, writes that the system of utilising prison labour for tree planting has_ now passed beyond the experimental 'stage, and must hs admitted to be a humane and rational method of giving prisoners a chance to alter their mode of life. The work, tho report adds, has both a. moral and an economic value. "Many of our tree planters do not .come back again, while the result of their work is seen in the gradual change that is coining;over the face of the country in which their operations axe carried on. At. the three camps over three and a half million trees were planted during the last/-year; in. addition to the general work of preparing' the ground, digging pits.^ and additions and alterations." ' "If." the report continues, "we had a sufficient number-of suitable men, th 3 planting operations could be considerably extended. Probably the difficulty will be overcome later by the erection of a different class of camp, where the discipline and supervision will be more riniri than prevails in the present establishments."