A.—No. 12,

vested in the Superintendent, with a proviso that they shall not limit or control the Governor in the exercise of powers theretofore exercised by him. (7.) In Southland Province there was no empowering Ordinance up to .1864 ; and we arc not aware of any passed since ; and the Superintendent therefore has, under the provisions of " The New Provinces Act, 1858," the same powers as the Superintendent of Otago. (8.) In New Plymouth "The Empowering Ordinance, 1857," like those of Wellington and Hawke's Bay, omits the Prisons Ordinance in the Schedule. 9. In the Province of Auckland a " Transfer of Powers Act " (Sess. 1., No. 8), was passed (Feb. 4th, 1854), by which it was enacted that—" All the Acts authorized or required to be performed by, and all the powers conferred upon or given to the said Governor and the said Colonial Treasurer respectively, by the said Ordinances enumerated in the said Schedule hereunto annexed, shall henceforth cease to be performed and exercised by the said Governor and the said Colonial Treasurer, as the case may be." If this Ordinance "benoiultra vires, the Governor's powers under the Prisons Ordinance are thereby entirely abrogated, and yet the rules thereunder are made by the Governor. 10. Further, with regard to delegation of powers, it is provided by "The Governor's Delegation Act, 1867," that where a Superintendent under Provincial laws acts by and with the advice of his Provincial Council, the Governor in Council may by writing under his hand, and the Seal of the Colony, delegate to the Executive Government of the Province, subject to such limits or restrictions as he may think fit, any of the powers vested in the Governor or the Governor in Council which he might by law delegate to a Superintendent. By the sth section of the same Act, the Governor in Council may delegate such powers to any such person or persons as he may think fit. 11. By " The Neglected and Criminal Children Act, 1867," Superintendents of Provinces are empowered to establish industrial and reformatory schools for children under the age of fifteen, each being exclusively for males or females, and to make regulations for the conduct and management thereof; and provision is also made for bringing schools established by private subscriptions within the Act, and reserving such schools, if supported by one religious denomination only, for ihe use of children belonging to such denomination. By section 16, it is provided that none but convicted children shall be sent to " reformatory schools ; " and that when any child under fifteen is convicted before a Judge or two Justices, either for an indictable offence or on summary conviction, the Judge or Justices, in addition to the sentence passed as a punishment for the offence, may direct such child, at the expiration of the sentence, to be sent to any reformatory school, for the proper sex, in the Province, to be detained there not less than one year nor more than seven. Eegard is to be had to the religious denomination to which the child belongs in the order as to his or her education. Moreover, it is provided by section 29 that the Superintendent of any Province which does not possess an industrial or reformatory school may, with the advice of his Council, make arrangements with the Superintendent of any Province in which there may be such a school, for using it in common. In addition to these provisions for the education and reformation of juvenile offenders, the Act provides (section 39) that in case any person under the ago of sixteen years is convicted of felony or misdemeanour [query —before the Judge of the Supremo Court], the Supreme Court, or any Judge thereof may, on the application of any person willing to take charge of such child and provide for its maintenance and education, —if it should appear to the Court or Judge to be for the benefit of the infant, due regard being had to its age, to the prevention of crime, and to the circumstances, habits, and character of the parents or guardian,—to assign the care and custody of such infant during its minority, or any part thereof, to such person, upon such terms and conditions, and subject to such regulations as to maintenance, education and care, as the Court or Judge shall think proper, subject to rescission and alteration as to time and conditions ; and the Court may award costs to any parent who opposes such an application, if not well founded. \_N.B. —It is not stated whether such assignment is to be instead of, or in addition to, and to take effect after, the expiration of a sentence by way of punishment, as in case of an order sending the infant to a Reformatory School.] It seems unnecessary to mention hero anj r one of the provisions of the Act of 1867. Rums as to REinssioss. In addition to these Ordinances and Acts, there are so-called Rules relating to remission of sentences of prisoners on the ground of good behaviour, issued on the 25th July, 1864, by the Attorney-Gen oral for the time being. Those rules, although they have no legal authority or force, are to be taken, and have been taken, to amount to a notice by the Executive Government to prisoners, that they may expect that the prerogative of mercy will be exercised on their behalf to the extent and under the conditions indicated. The propriety of the adoption of some such system was the subject of communications between their Honors the Judges of the Supreme Court and the Executive Government (see Report App. Rep. Journal, 1863, A. No. 7 (No. 3) ; and the rules in question are substantially in accordance with the expressed opinion of the Judges. (See rules in Appendix marked IV.) The practical application and effect of this system of ordinary partial remissions for good conduct -will be adverted to hereafter. Retiew or the extstiso Law. On a review of the existing law therefore, it would appear that the authority to make rules and regulations with regard to the punishment of convicts under sentences of penal servitude -throughout the whole Colony, rests exclusively with the Governor, except in so far as he may expressly delegate the special powers as to employment of convicts on roads and works with which he is invested by the ninth section of "The Secondary Punishment Act, 1854," to Superintendents under the seventh section of the Act, or to the Executive Council of a Province, or any other person under " The Delegates Act, 1867."

Existing La:v,

" Transfer of I'oivers Act."

- Delegation of powers.

"Neglected and Criminal- Children Act, 18G1."

Sending juvenile convicts to reformatory.

A ssignrncnt.

11

COMMISSION ON PRISONS.