A.—No. 12

(3.) At Hokitika, as above mentioned, the Visiting Justices report once a quarter to the Colonial Secretary. (4.) At Nelson, the Visiting Justices, according to the evidence of the Gaoler, visit once in two or three months, and report once a year to the Provincial Government — [Clottston] : but according to one of the Visiting Justices, [Weils] they visit frequently and make no regular reports. (5.) At Auckland, the Visiting Justices visit almost daily, and report monthly, quarterly, and annually to the Superintendent. — [Peacocke and Naughton.] (C.) At New Plymouth it appears that no reports arc made by the Visiting Justice. — [Flight.] (7.) From Napier, we have no information on this subject. (8.) At Dunedin, the Visiting Justices make no regular reports, but report occasionally when they think necessary. —[Strode and Reynolds.] (9.) At Invereargill, there are four Visiting Justices. Their visits arc not regular [Fkasee] ; and they never deem it necessary to make a report. —[Pearson.] "We must next call attention to certain cases in which it would appear that the Visiting Justices have exceeded their powers. At Lyttelton, it seems that an extra ration is given by order of the Visiting Justices and the medical officer [Reston's evidence] ; but the only powers which Visiting Justices have to interfere with rations (except in cases of sentence to solitary confinement and bread and water) are derived from the regulations duly made according to law. Now the regulations for penal servitude prisoners at Lyttelton, enable the Visiting Justices to place prisoners upon the first-class rations, under certain circumstances, and to degrade them from the first-class to the second —the rations being fixed by the rules ; but the Justices seem to have no power to grant extra rations, and as regards other prisoners, there are not, as we shall presently show, any regulations in force in that gaol. — [Reston.] In Hokitika gaol,the gaoler (Cleaet) says that the use of tobacco has been discontinued on his recommendation, by the Visiting Justices, and one of the Justices (Sale) says that they stopped the supply of tobacco altogether, " although the same was in violation of the rules"—that is, the regulations of the Lyttelton gaol for penal servitude prisoners, which were in use at Hokitika for both penal servitude and other prisoners, apparently without legal sanction ; and upon what ground of authority the Visiting Justices assumed a right to make or break rules does not appear. —[ Caldwell, Sale.] At Nelson, the gaoler (Clottston) says he has discretionary power given to him by the Visiting Justices to reduce and to increase the scale of rations, but it does not appear that the regulations used in the gaol give the Visiting Justices any such power. At Napier, it appears that a routine which is in some respects at variance with the regulations is sanctioned by the Visiting Justices (Bubnaby's report), and also changes in the rations not provided by the regulations, and among others the supply, to hard-labour prisoners, of tobacco, which is expressly prohibited by the regulations (made in 1802), are sanctioned by the Visiting Justices, the Superintendent, and the medical officer. The next observation to be made with respect to Visiting Justices is, that in the regulations for Nelson the Visiting Justices are directed to visit once a week, and in those for the Otago gaols (gazetted 23rd December, 18G3) certain specific directions are given to Visiting Justices (rules 72-79 inclusive) which direct them to do various things not required by the Prisons Ordinance, such as visiting at least twice a week ; and, as before suggested, we doubt whether the Governor has any power by regulation to alter the statutory duties of such functionaries, who are not, in our opinion, officers of the gaol, but magistrates having powers affecting the management of the gaol and the conduct of its officers. We have been furnished with a correspondence between officers of the General Government and the Visiting Justices of Hokitika gaol* respecting certain regulations proposed for that prison; to which the Visiting Justices objected, as wo think rightly, on the ground that they are ultra vires. Rules made under, Acts. The next matter to be considered is in respect of what gaols rules and regulations have been made under the Prisons Ordinance or " The Secondary Punishments Act, 1854," or both of them. From the information we have received it would appear that discipline must have been carried on. in most of the prisons of the Colony for some time without any direct legal sanction ; and it would seem that all punishments inflicted on prisoners in addition to what is necessarily implied by the sentence of the Court, in the absence of rules made and gazetted under and within the provisions of the Ordinance and Act applicable to such prison, have been and are illegally inflicted. It appears that rules have been made by His Excellency the Governor in pursuance of both '. Ordinance and Act, affecting all prisoners except debtors, for the gaols of Auckland, Nelson, Napier," and Otagof that rules and regulations for penal servitude convicts only have been made for the gaols ' of Wellington and Lyttelton; and that no legal rules are in existence for other criminal prisoners in the gaols last, mentioned ; that the regulations for the Picton Gaol for both hard labour and penal servitude prisoners, are made by the Superintendent of Marlborough [Cawte's evidence] by virtue of the Nelson empowering Ordinance, which, of course, does not refer to penal servitude prisoners; that in Hokitika Gaol, the regulations for Lyttelton Gaol at the date of examination were used (apparently without any legal authority) for both penal servitude convicts, and for all other convicts ; but since then a set of rules for both penal servitude and hard labour prisoners made by the Governor, have been gazetted 25th March, 18G8 ; and lastly, that in Wellington and Lyttelton gaols the rules for penal servitude convicts are, without any legal authority, also applied to hard labour prisoners, and (it would likewise seem) as far as applicable, to all other prisoners except debtors. * A set of rules for this gaol, omitting the parts objected to, has since been issued by the Governor. See Gazette, 25th March, 1868. t A pre-existing set of rules for penal servitude men in Otago appears not to be repealed unlesß so far as they are inconsistent with the subsequent ones. 4

) Visiting Justices.

. Excess of power, I

Absence of rules,

Rules made —for what prisoners, and by whom.

13

COMMISSION ON PRISONS.