Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VIII, Issue 415, 25 March 1881, Page 1

Current Topics

AT HOME AND ABROAD.

GAFTAIK HUME &C.

OtTB worthy Inspector of Prisons has laid himself open to criticism by the eccentric step he has taken in making what is to all intents and purposes no less an attack upon the Press than a high-handed and needless piece of meddling with the officials under his controlthat is if they are, in fact, under his control, for there is no provision in the Prisons Act that relates to an inspectorship of prisons, and the gentleman filling srch a situation has no legal or official standing — the Governor of the Colony has no power to make such an appointment, and its duties, whatever they may be, can only be perfoiou d by a person who visits the prisons, as any casual visitor might do, by permission of the visiting justices. In answer, then, to the inquiry made by us last week relative to the antecedents of Captain Hume, -we find that he was formerly an officer in the 79th Highlanders, and that afterwards he filled a subordinate position in the penal establishments at Dartmoor and Portland. From Dartmoor the Htme News informs us, he had the distinguished honour of escorting the famous " Sir Roger Tichbome " to Portsmouth or Chatham, am) the soars he spent in the society of that aristocratic personage, we should think, must have unfitted him in some degree for the more -vulgar task, which afterwards fell to his lot, of looking after the prisoners engaged in building the new prison at Wormwood Scrubs. Whether it was his association with " Sir Roger " that raised the tone of our gallant captain, or whether it was that something commanding clung to him since his military days, and had merely lain in abeyance during his career as a prison underling, we know not ; something, however, there must have been that fitted him for an immediate change from attendance upon prisoners at home to fill the position of Inspector of Prisons out here. But, nevertheless, our inspector is not proud ; at Lyttelton, for example, we understand, that, while be was engaged in the inspection of the gaol, he was the guest of the gaoler^— an honoured guest it may very well be believed. The prison at Lyttelton, we may remark, appears to have given the inspector the utmost satisfaction, for it is reported, according to a letter in the Christchurch Star, that its excellent governor, a late importation from the penal depots at Home, has received over and above his salary a bonus of £50, and this, we must take as a mark of the gratification experienced by our inspector at the good management of a praiseworthy and most hospitable gaoler. It is even probable, so great was oar inspector's pleasure at what be witnessed, that, in hopes of finding good management and perhaps hospitality run in the family, he caused the promotion of a relative of this gaoler's, who had lately been appointed to a situation in the gaol, over the heads of experienced officers— with the effect of creating dissatisfaction and disorganisation throughout the whole service in question. As to the bonus of £50, nevertheless, it would be interesting to learn, in these hard times, what may have been the special deserving that obtained it. But, besides our inspector, we know of nobody who could furnish the information, '• an' if he would," except the Hon. the Minister of Justice, without whose »pproval no such sum could have been paid by the Audit Office. Meantime, its payment has not been sanctioned by any vote of the House — unless, may b >, it was included in the charges tet to the account of the Native Department, under the plea of services rendered in keeping Maori prisoneia. It is, however, a question that nearly touches the public generally as to whether it is possible for mosey to be paid awa,y by the heads of departments in a manner not openly accounted fir. The public money of the colony is hardly so plentiful at present as to justify tuch a cavalier method of dealing with it, and we would vesture to ■uggest that a strict inquiry into the matter might prove of considerable importance. But are we to conclude that Inspectors of Prisons in England carry on their woik as we now see it carried on here? Captain Hume comes to us fresh from England, and we mu6t suppose him to be thoroughly versed in all the practices of bis profession there. Do inspectors of prisons as a rule accept the hospitality of the gaolera whose prisons they are actually engaged in

inspecting, and is it considered desirable that relatives of the gaolew should occupy positions under them, to the almost certain introduction, of favouritism and jealousy into the management of gaols? If such be the case we cannot wonder at the great irregularities, the trafficking with prisoners, the bad classification in connection with the English prisons, concerning which so much that was disgraceful was revealed by the late Penal Commission. Lord Kimberley, chairman of the commission in question, spofc* as follows :—": — " H&w* ever it arises, the fact is indisputable that the Home prison* are excellent cages but very indifferent reformaiories. A consequence known to all the world, except the Borne Office, has been, that th* prison* edv-cate as many professional criminal* at the receivers of sto'&n goods" Again, it is not only the Press that our Inspector of Prison* has snubbed ; he has treated with nanch contempt also the very visitii'g justice?, on whom be is himself dependent for permission to visit the prisons he has been appointed to inspect — for, as we said, there is no authority to be found in the Prisons' Act for his appointment. He has issued an order that in. all cases where officers are charged before tne visiting justices of any gaol with any offence, even after the decision of the justices, the gaolers are to give a fall report of the cane to the Inspector of Prisons who may recommend to the Minister of Justice the dismissal of the officers in question, although the justices have considered them suflfaently punished by a reprimand or fine. This, it is needles* to say, is a most impertinent assumption of poweT, and one that no man pos*esspd cf a grain of common sense could possibly have made ; but without a grain of | common sense we feaT an inspector of prisons will prove himself a [ most mischievous individual. It is to b<? hoped, in the interests of the colony, that the visiting justices will assert their authority and keep him in proper order, even, if necessary, by relegating him to an inspection of the outride of the pri«on walls. We remember once to have read a recommendation given by some worthy traveller who advised everyone wlio read his books never to choose as travelling companions retired military officers ; tbeir domineering habits, be said, were such as no man could endure. We are not, how. ror, inclined to agree with him as to the whole class in question, but this gallant captain of whom we speak appears to bo just such a one as bad so unfavourably impressed our traveller. His belief is evidently in the strong-hand, and that, alone. Into the fallacy of such a belief it is, however. minece«aary for u» to enter ; we may, nnveithelessj with special relation to the now famous circular on the Press, quote the following passage from a rompetent au'hority on all matters relating to p-isons. that in, the Howard Association Report for 1880 :— " The Commissioners (especially of Convict Prisons) .xercise a too ri»rid discipline an to their officers. They seem to assume that the name stiffness and reserve which may be need.id in the army or in war, w* necessary in the peaceful routine of prisons, even as to the officers. Now in Germany, where, of all nations, needful discipline is well maintained, there is far more freedom and eas* amongst prison officers as a body. They are permitted, and officially encouraged, to diseusß prison matters, and to circulate theiT opinions and expriencef through the columns of two periodical magazines on departmental questions, also to hold occasional Confereuces. Buch professional discussions, if encouraged by the English pri«on authorities, might also be very useful, and aid rather than diminish di-ciplire." In conclusion we would suggest that, when our Inspector of Prisons has been brought to his senses as to thf. privileges, u>e, and dignity of the public Press ; as to his relationship toward* the Visiting Justices, and his duties towards the gaoleis whos« gaols he is enjapd in inspecting, he be appointed bead gaoler of the prison at Wellington* where be will find employment for what mu-t otherwise be the idle time for which the public money will go to pay him. and whence he mighxm ike his periodical visits of inspection -if they be found necessary — or, rather, harmless.

" SWEET EDiNBao."

OUR contemporary the LyttelUm Time* has been moved to rrbuke tho c democrats o» Jnvomugill who, when Hi.-, Excellency tbe Gov.inor arrived in their town the otber day met him with chier/a for Sir George Grey. Our contemporary says it was in gross bad taste, and we are not 'disposed to contradict him ; but after all the matter doeß not appear to.have affected His Excellency a bit ; his disposition

was evidently that of Luther when he professed himself totally indifferent as to whether or not the skies should begin to pour down a rain composed of a certain duke who was opposed to him, multiplied a great many thousand times. His Excellency in InvercaTgill did not care a pin for any opposing power, for there was a force behind the throne to uphold him in the face of all opposition. Here is his own description of it, as given at the banquet at which he was entertained, and as reported by the Southland Timss : "He bad anticipated that he would meet in Invercargill a cordial reception, and had not been disappointed. Was it fancy, or was he right in thinking that here, in the southern portion of the colony, he had been received more warmly than elsewhere 1 He did not mean the greeting accorded to himself personally, because he was quite a stranger ; but were there not more then a few in Southland who«c greeting was kindlier, and whose good wishes were truer because they felt that they and himself came of one common race — (loud cheers) — a lace famous throughout the world for the tenacity with which the members of it clung to and helped one another when absence from Home made them strangers in strange lands — a race which recognised the strength of the link which bound together those who had one common birthplace ? As a Scotchman he was pleased to tbink of the large share hi-^ countrymen had bad in building up this portion of the colony." With such a tenacious multitude then, clinging around him, and such a support, what need His Excellency care about Sir George Grey or any one else ? Through thick and thin his throne is founded in the affections of his people, and he may set the world at defiance. His Scotch following will back him up in everything that may happen. Meantime it may be somewhat mortifying for our ultra-loyal friends from all parts of the United Kingdom to learn, on such high authority, that in order to give full force to their '• good wishes" for Her Majesty's representative, it is necessary for them to own the same fatherland with him. — Or is.it only our Scotch fellow-colonists whose " good wishes" lack something of the troth, unless they be poured out in favour of a viceroy who himself comes of " one common race" with them? Grood wishes, not so true as they might be, we have a suspicion, are after all only a kind of insincerity, and on the whole we had rather nob be accredited with them ia public by on** thoroughly conversant with our nature. Again, it must be somewhat unpleasant to thos* 1 good people in the north who imagined they were most enthusiastic ia the reception of their Governor to learn from his own lips that their warmth was evidently not what it might have been; it failed in the '• Avhite-headed laddie" tone that has marked the greetings of the south. But is his Excellency quite sure that he is pure-blooded Scotcb 1 We doubt it ; we are half -inclined to suspect that Irishmen alao may claim a, place amongst liis hereditary supporters. At least according to Joe Millar, it is the traditional Irishman only who " never opens his mouth bat he puts his foot in it.' Somewhere amongst his ancestry our Governor nnist certainly own a traditional Irishman.

STUPID GUSH.

We are brimming over with loyalty in this colony, so we are ; and even if those of us who are not North Britons fail in being as warm towards our Governor as we might be were we fired up fully by copatriotism, we want nothing to make us blaze away most furiously at the hint of anything tending towards disloyalty. We have, in fact, too much lcyalty for our own use and it is necessary for us to get rid of a little of its exuberance by expending it upon our neighbours. Here, for example, is a letter of loyal entreaty written by some one in Auckland to the police magistrate of Brisbane, and its prayer is most touching. " Respected Sir, — We do earnestly beg of you that you will aot suffer all the Australasian colonies to be disgraced by the continuation of Irish Land League sympathy sedition meetings, though the leader in such may be a member of the honourable Legislative Council." This letter, it will be seen, is couched in charming language, and its sentiments are such as do honour to the writer. We cannot tell, o£ course, whether his good wishes on behalf of the powers that be might not possibly be more true, but it is clear that his bad wishes towards those who venture to hint tbat there might be some improvement made in their method of conduct could not possibly be more sincere ; he is ready to eat them up. But it is mere idle talk for our ultraloyal fellow-colonists, inoludiug the worshipful Mr. Watt, Mayor of "Wanganui, to confine themselves to attempts against the holding of Land League meetings in these colonies. The very utmost they can effect by this is to prevent the public expression of sympathy that ■will still be felt in private, and which, for all tbeir talk, will still be manifested in the transmission of substantial aid to the leaders of the movement in Ireland. We recommend to ihcin the example of those "brave volunteers of South Australia and Wellington, who lately gave us such an example o£ hunger to do and die in the service of their country. Let them organise an expedition to Ireland for the purpose of strengthening the police : that will be something, whereas here they make a noise that has neither sense nor meaning, and that onty. Perhaps however, it is in this that their taleut lies and they are fit for nothing eke.

MINNESOTA.

Now that the condition into which a few wretched families of paupers brought out from Conuemarn and settled in one of Bishop Ireland's settlements in Minnesota had very naturally fallen has begun to be a matter for the sueers and unfair criticisms of the secular Press, we find of considerable importance the following account given in a letter to the London Spectator by Mr. J. H. Tuke of Eitchin. It relates to Avoca, an Irish settlement ia the same district with that inhabited by the unfortunate Connem&ra families, and also settled under the management of Bishop Ireland. " A fourth colony is at Avoca, about 170 miles south-west from St. Paul's. Here 52,000 acres of excellent land were purchased, the whole of which, it is expected, will be sold and settled by July 1881. The price of land here is five to seven dollars per acre, — either spread over a term of years, or for cash, in which case a liberal deduction is made. Avoca, not • the v-ale in whose bosom the wild water? meet,' is the only one of the colonies which, from the severity of the weather and great distances required to be travelled, I was able to visit. It is situated on the borders of a pretty little lake, and consists at present of a few scattered wooden houses, in front of which the single track of the railway passes which brought us from St. Paul's. All around, and so far as the eye can reach, stretches the boundless pi'airie, covered at this season (October) with tall, dry, grass, except where the prairie fiiea had burnt the surface to a black cinder. Two years ago neither house nor railway existed. Fifteen years ago, as the first settler informed me, his nearest neighbour was forty-five miles distant ; while the nearest shop and post-office were 70 miles away, and his wheat had to be taken nearly 100 miles to the nearest mill. Tn those early days his homestead had been burnt by the Indians, and he escaped with difficulty. Now there are two lines of railway within easy reach, and Avoca boasts of nearly thirty houses ; and the neighbouring village of Fuldah, another part of the colony, of nearly as many, the growth of less than two years. In the former may now be found a Roman Catholic chapel, a school , seven shops of various kinds ; a good, small hotel, and two smaller houses of entertainment, all without beer or spirits ; and ten houses of various sizes. There are mary other little houses or ' shantiea' belonging to the new settlers, which lie scattered at wide intervals over the prairie, usually a mile or a mite and a half distant one from another. Some of these I visited in company with Mr. O'BrieD, the secretary of the Association, who kindly met me here, affording me every assistance in his power. Like Bishop Ireland his heart is ia his work to which he has devoted his whole energies. One or two oi these visits can be noticed. Leaving the little village, our route led us over a rough road and partly over the long, dry grass of the prairie, until we reached the little farm of Joseph Hurst. He had been a market-gardener near Liverpool, and wishing to improve his circumstances had left home in April last, applying for land to the Catholic Colonisation Society, of whom be had purchased 160 acres, . . . paying six dollars per acre, to be repaid in a term of years. On this be had erected a small wooden house, 16 feet by 20 feet* costing SO dollars. During the early rammer he had ploughed out 30 acres with a yoke of oxen, sowing Indian corn and flax, and in May planting a few acres with potatoes and turnips. . . . He had a cow and two pigs. He had cut a quantity of prairie grass for hay, as well as fuel. This, his wife said answered well and soon heated the kettle or warmed the room. In two days a man could cut as much of the long dry grass as would last for a year's fuel. During the harvest Hurst had worked for his neighbours at from 2J dols. to 3 dols. per day, and was ' almost torn to pieces' in their anxiety to obtain his services. He had dug a well 18 feet deep and had excellent water. • With good crops no man need look behind him ; but a man must work hard and ought to have £100 to make a start with.' Hurst was happy and contented, the model of a little immigiant farmer. Another man, an Irish Canadian, had taken 320 acres. . . . and been a year and a half on tlie land. 'The land could not be better,' with three horses and two ploughs he had broken up 140 acres of the prairie, employing a man for three months to assist him at 30 dols. per mouth and board. He had sown 80 acres with flax 'on the sod ' (the first bieaking of the virgin land), which yielded 20 bushels to the acre, worth 1 dol. a bushel, or 20 dols. per acre, for land costing 6 dols. and seed and breaking another four dollars, cent, per cent, on his investment. Of wheat he had about twenty bushels to the acre, worth there eighty cents per bushel. This laud is well suited both for cattle and sheep." Disparaging remarks, then, with regard to Bishop Ireland, and sn^eis at the condition of the unfortunate Connemara families are alike idle. The bishop has done his work so far well, and Irish emigrants have well co-operated with him. A few poor creatures, made what they are by the wicked system that has so long obtained in their native country, prove nothing except the wickedness of tie system under which they have lived. The only wonder is that the whole Irish peasantry are not on a par with them.

FOOL.I3HNESS.

The Saturday Ileviniv seems to favour the aristocratic view of things. H6 considers it to be unheard of that men of the people should seek to ameliorate tho condition of the people, although ho docs uot eonaidcv

thab their antecedents add to their guilt. " Perhaps," says he, "it may be suggested that the Irish Attorney-General was a little unwi=e in pouring so great an amount of sconi on the social position of some of the traversers. It may be, and no doubt is, a preposterous thing that clerks, shoemakers, shopkeepers, and so forth, should band themselves together to upset the social system of a country ; but the precise amount of legal gnilt which is fixed upon them by their antecedent occupations is a little difficult to discover. Supposing the ti-aversers to be guilty, it is not obvious why Mr. Parnell the landlord is a. less mischievous person or a less contemptible person than Mr. Boyton, the shopkeeper's son, and Mr. Nally the ' Nothing.' Nor is it difficult to see that a jury which, as we read, consists of confectioners, grocers, tailors, and so forth, might be a little slow to perceive the criminality or contemptibility of occupations similar to their own." Passing over the reference to the effect upon the jury of the Attorney-General's allusions, and with which we are not now concerned, we shall simply ask why it is so preposterous a thing for men of the working classes to band together for the purpose of upsetting a social system, that needs to be upset for the good of the people. It was just such men that established the social systems of America and these colonies, and if they were competent to do the one why should they be considered incompetent to accomplish the other ? If the people must wait for the aristocrats to move in their favour they may live and die as they stand. Meantime it is rather absurd to hear Mr. Attorney-General Law scoffing at trade and tradesmen in the Dublin law courts, where the sons of tradesmen have as a rule obtained a leading place. This is so notably the fact that we feel inclined almost to ask whether the learned Attorney-General in making the remarks in question had not some double part to play,

ME. BUSSELL ON IRELAND.

The London Spectator of a recent date gives a review of Mr. Charles Russell's letters on Ireland, published at first ia the Daily Telegraph, and which have since been issued in the shape of a book. The Spectator says they should be studied by every one vrh.o desires to form a just opinion of. affairs in Ireland. '• An Irishman by birth," he continues, " and a Liberal in political principle ; a trained and experienced lawyer, who has made a specialty of land claima, and that in the north of Ireland ; a solicitor who built up a great business, and then a barrister who has been named for the English Solicitor* Generalship, Mr. Russell employed some recent leisure in a close examination of the condition of Kerry, where for long years it has been notorious that, while the people are poor, outrages have been infrequent ; and the result is an utter condemnation of the existing system of land-tenure. It is impossible," he goes on to say, "to read Mr. Russell's account and the rejoinders on behalf of Lord Lansdowne, which are with great fairness included in the volume, without seeing that in Kerry, at least, all coufidence between landlord and tenant has disappeared, that the two classes hate and dread one another ; that the landlords and their agents take advantage of every opportunity to raise rents, while doing comparatively little, as judged by the English standard, for their estates ; and that the tenantry, who make up the body of the people, live lives of terror and suspicion fatal to social security, to comfort, and even to industry." Of the landlords' power and the submission of the people, the reviewer quotes the following example in connection with Lord Lansdowne's estates :—": — " One extraordinary institution prevails on this estate, not only on the Kenmare but also on the Cahirciveen portion of it, namely, what is called the hanging two gales, or hanging year's rent. At first I supposed that this merely meant that instead of the hanging gale, or half-yeaT, which is common on Irish estates, carelessness or liberality had suffered this to be increased to two hanging halfyears. But I found this was not so. I found it dated back to the pre-famine years, and that, while treated as non-existing, so long as the tenant continued to pay the accruing gales, the bunging year was used as an engine or! terrible power in the hands of the agent when the tenant fell in arrear. It is difficult to understand this, aud I was slow to believe it ; but over aud over again, and in all directions upon the estate, I was informed that this out-lyiug year counted for nothing, and dated back to a time older th;iu many of the inhabitants. They added that, although it counted for nothing so long as the accruing rent was punctually paid, it did count for much if the rent was half a year in airear, for that then, and then only, was the dormant year brought forward as the basis on which au ejectment was founded, and by which (it is not too harsh a word to use) the screw was applied to the tardy-paying tenant. More than one instance was cited to us of cases where an ejected tenant, whom the atjent did not desire to continue on the estates, was not allowed to redeem, except upon payment of this stale domand ; whilst if the tenant were not obnoxious to the agent, no such demand was made. I confess I was incredulous for a long time, until I was informed by the Rev. Mr. M'Cutcheon, Protestant rector of Kenmare (himself a sturdy northern), that when he Bucceeded to the incumbency of Kenmare, upon paying his first gale of rent, he looked at Lis receipt, and to hi^ surprise found that it was dated a year back.

He was thus made to appear not only to be owing a year's rent, but to be paying for a period wliea in fact be was not in occupatio i. He complained of this, and received for his com'ort the assurance of, Mr. Trench that it was a mere matter of form, that it was the custom of the office." The object of this, the reviewer tells us waa to facilitate eviction. " The Kerry landlord, he tells us, can and does raise rent, whenever he can , often most oppressively, till there is nothing left for the cultivators except a bare subsistence, of which from year to year they never feel secure." They are, in fact, " constantly on poortith's brink," unless, as it often happens, they go crer the edge and fall into absolute starvation. " The tenants." continues the reviewer, " feeling that improvements would tend to a rise of rents fail to make them, till in many places the population consists of halffed, half clothed, cottiers, living in houses which in England would be huts>, — an existence scarcely above, if it is above, that of the uncivilised races of the East, and embittered by a sense that the misery comes from unjust treatment.." We recommend this statement of things made in the first instance by a lawyer of sufficient standing to have entitled him to be named without causing surprise for the solicitor- generalship of England, and in the second place put forward by a writer on the staff of a leading London weekly, to those of our good contemporaries who are so much amused by th« failure of the Connemara families in Minnesota. We would ask them whether in all candour they can expect people brought out of even a worse condition of things than that described here, to become industrious farmers without any preparation whatever, or if it is not rather matter for surprise that any members of a generation so brought up are found capable of attaining to industry and respectability. But, notwithstanding the powerful evidence thus borne to the state of things in Ireland, we need not expect any alteration in the aspect of the English mind. The one thing which above all others engages the attention of the Anglo-Saxon is self-interest, and while ever he finds it conducive to this that he should oppress Ireland he will continue to do so. Justice and fair play are very fine things to talk of, or even to practice, where it may be done without much sacrifice, but where great interests are involved, and can only be supported by injustice and foul play, these will certainly obtain the preference, as they have done hitherto.

The method in which the English Government are now dealing with Ireland may be justly termed the method of determined brutality. And it is in just such a manner that they are being backed up by some of the leading English papers, more especially the Times aud the Saturday Mevierv. But it is particularly instructive to watch how the second of these two newspapers lays down its boasted enlightenment beneath an insane prejudice, and pursues a course of dogged, unreasoning tatred, that exhibited elsewhere would bring down upon itself the bitter lash that the Review can wield with such heavy effect. We do not know, however, how far the attitude of the Saturday Review on thh Irish question may effect the opponents of the Irish people ; it most probably supports them in their iury or adds fresh fuel to their rage. But the far famed sting of the redoubtable weekly has completely lost its venom, so far as the friends of .Ireland are concerned ; we can read its fiercest diatribe without wincing in the slightest degree, and as if perusing something written of a nation whose very name we had never heard of. It i", however, a somewhat pitiable sight to see such abilities prostituted to the service of determined brutality. Meantime, when the Government are engaged with their brutal measures for coercion, and besides the famous Coercion Bill there is another one on the tapis which goes by the title of a Bill for the Protection of Person ami Property in Ireland, and which will give the Lord Lieutenant. po\v«r to arrest ar.y person whom he suspects of having been guilty of hi»h treason, felony, treasonable practice, or crime tending to disturb law and order in a proclaimed district, either before or after the pacing of the Act. prooably in connection with which the retrospective clause has been reported of here— great destitution prevails in several districts throughout the country. Hut this the determined, brutality of the Government neglects. The people may not wag a finger in their own defence without calling out the fatherly anxiety of their rulers lest they tbould be guilty of excess, but they may starve without any fatherly feeling whatsoever being excited concerning them. Tho Government are taking no steps of any kind towards making provision asjainst the prevailing misery, but seem as if, consistently enough, it entered also into their determined brutality to let the people die o£ starvation. They have, however, even in our own times, done so before ; if they do so again, it will not be without a precedent.

CHANGES.

Apropos of Ibe new regulation introduced into the gaols of the colony by our brand-new Inspector of J'riaoua, we learn that it is intended to reform onr wTiole prison system. A Prisons Bill, -we understand, is even now being prepared, by which the superintendence of visiting justices will be abolished, and tbo whole management of tbe gaols entrusted to the gaolers under the control of the inspector of prisons, who will

DETEBMINED BRUTALITY/.

thus be lord paramount and free from all responsibility to any superior— at least virtually. — Under the new act also it is intended, as we learn, to do away with the employment of prisonser, as hitherto, on the public works of the colony, and that they shall instead be occupied within the prison walls with the time-honoured treat! -mill, or with cranks, and other machinery useless for everything else except penal purposes — a very questionable improvement, we should say, on the present system by which the are made of considerable use in developing the resources of the colony, and providing for the convenience of settlers at a great saving to the public purse. The Lyttelton Gaol is to bs the central penal establishment under the act alluded to. Meantime, an exemplification of the actual status of the inspector of prisons may be fonnd in that of Dr. Bkae, the inspector of lunatic asylums, by whose evidence in the case of the Wellington Asylum it appears that he has no power whatever in the management of the institutions alluded to ; he can neither direct nor reform, and his duties are limited to visiting and reporting. He is simply an ordinary visitor, on whom no responsibility lies, hut for whose morning calls the colony pays pretty heavily. The inspector of prisons is in a similar position, and similarly costly ; indeed, if the amount expended on his salary frnn the date of his appointment in England, joined to that necessary to defray the passages of himself and his family in the steamer which conveyed tfcem to our shores were made known to us, we should probably learn that already the somewhat impoverished condition of the public exchequer bad been heavily drawn on to provide us with a luxury, which might very well have been dispensed with. In future, as we have said elsewhere, the cost of our somewhat ornamental official might be reduced, and his appointment utilised by obliging him to add to his duties, which otherwise will be almost nominal, the care of the gaol at "Wellington, or the Central Penal Establishment at Lyttelton, in either of which he undoubtedly should reside. It will, we conclude, be acknowledged now on all hands, that in the case of Dr. Skae, whose positioi is so much on a par with that ot the prison inspector, it would have been much better had his residence been in the Wellington Asylum, whence everything would have been constantly under his eye, and where he might have paid his periodical Tints of inspection; and. indeed, in all instances it seems desirably that the medical officer attached to each lunatic asylum should reside in the building. There are many reforms, in fact, that misrbt "wiih advantage be made in the management of the public institutions of the Colony. Such, for example, as holding inquests in all cases of deaths in Reformatories, Industrial Schools, and Benevolent Institutiona—these, however, are in some degree beside oni subject, and we shall confine ourselves to once more suggesting that whatever may be the changes now intended with regard to our gaols or lunatic asylums, economy may be kept in view. The Colony cannot afiord to maintain mere walking-gentlemen, occupied chiefly in the attempt to kill time. And, if already considerable sums of money have been expended on useless officials, it is a stupid policy to throw away good money after bad. It is " never too late to mend," and we shall begin to believe in a sincere disposition towards retrenchment on the part of the powers that be, when we Bee Dr. Skae domiciled in some one of our lunatic asylums, and Captain Hume usefully occupied in the prison at Wellington or the Lyttelton penal establishment. Let these auspicious instalments mark the inauguration of a new era in the management of cur public finances ; it is much needed.