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' F. Prison Administration. I have said that there is no prison in Rarotonga, and the mode of dealing with those who have offended against the laws has been a sort of reformatory treatment. They are allowed to go to their own homes at night. They work a little on the roads in the middle of the day, but the work is not remunerative, because there are only one or two prisoners, and a Native policeman has to be told off to look after them during the time they are working, and the work is very inefficient. Prisoners are usually employed in roadmaking. Occasionally they look after the grass at the Residency, and also at the Government Offices. A charge was preferred that two prisoners were employed, one by Mr. Blame, Registrar of the High Court, and one at the Residency. These charges were put forw 7 ard against the Commissioner. The people who made them knew that at the time when these Natives were working at Mr. Blame's and at the Residency Captain Smith was not in Rarotonga : he was on a visit to the Northern Islands. They also knew the circumstances under which the prisoners had worked. In the case of Mr. Blame, he was unable to get any domestic help. The boy, as he was termed, whom he had employed, had left, and he asked one of the Native policemen if he would allow a prisoner to go and chop some wood and assist at his house as he could not get any domestic help. Domestic help is even more difficult to obtain in Rarotonga than in Wellington. The Native policeman allowed Mr. Blame the services of a prisoner. Within an hour or two after the prisoner had gone to Mr. Blame's house, Mr. Reynolds, who was then head of the police —which I may add consists of eight Native constables —wrote a letter to Mr. Blame objecting. Mr. Blame wrote in reply that he meant to have mentioned it to Mr. Reynolds but had not done so. Thereupon the acting Commissioner, Mr. Stevenson, issued a memorandum to all Government officers prohibiting the practice. The lad was engaged only for about two hours at Mr. Blame's residence. He chopped some wood and washed out the kitchen. I am sure that if Mr. Wright had known that Captain Smith was not in the islands at the time, and that the matter had been dealt with by the acting Resident Commissioner at once, he would not have made the charge he did. The other case was that of a Native, Teoketai. He was employed by the Government officer, Mr. Twiss, who was looking after the Residency in the absence of Captain Smith. Domestic help could not be obtained, and this prisoner was employed at the Residency for a fortnight as a domestic help in Mr. Twiss's house. Certainly it was no harm to the prisoner. He was working without pay, and that is all that punishment means in Rarotonga. He was well fed and well cared-for, and went away as usual to his own house at night. So far as the charge is concerned, there can be no charge against Captain Smith, as at that time he knew nothing of the occurrence. In a place like Rarotonga, where there is no prison and no law relating to prisons, and where there is an absence of a criminal class, I do not see that any harm is done to the State by employing a prisoner. I do not think that the circumstances of Rarotonga warrant the expenses of a gaol system. The punishment that is now inflicted on prisoners in Rarotonga is that they are not paid for their services. Possibly it might be wise to try that kind of punishment in some cases in New Zealand, and it might act as a reformatory treatment that might be of some service where the offender is not of a criminal type. We know that in the early days of New Zealand some similar kind of treatment of prisoners was allowed: For example, in the early days of Otago the prisoners were warned that if they were not in by six at night they would be shut out. However, whether this system is good or bad, it is a system that has been in force for many years, and the specific charges made fall to the ground so far as the Resident Commissioner is concerned. It was said by Mr. Reynolds that Dr. Chesson, a former Medical Officer, was allowed to have the assistance of a prisoner for a short period, and that the Resident Commissioner assented to this course. I understand that Dr. Chesson required some man to look after his horse, (fee, and could not get one, and a prisoner was allowed to help. I fail to see what harm was done. The prisoner was fed by the doctor and was under his control, and it was under exceptional circumstances that the services of the prisoner were granted. G. The Alcoholic Liquor Question. There is no doubt great trouble in the Islands through the manufacture, more than through the sale, of intoxicating liquors. Reading a letter of Dr. Craig's brought before Sir James Prendergast in 1897 regarding intoxicating liquors, it appears plain that there is not so much drunkenness now as existed when. Dr. Craig wrote. The present law allows liquor to be imported only through the Government bond, and the Customs officer may refuse to give liquor even to those who import it, if he thinks that the giving of such liquors is causing mischief. The amount

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