1.—4.

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11. Moral Fffects of Imprisonment. (1.) (a.) Prisoners who render themselves liable to punishment do so from evil disposition, or from a want of thought. The existing punishments have been found to prevent a repetition of the offence by the same prisoners, and certainly to a great extent cause others to refrain from committing similar offences, (b.) They should each sleep in a separate cell, and should exercise and mess apart from previously-convicted prisoners. Every encouragement should be given to them to be wellconducted and industrious, in order that they may understand that by so conducting themselves they will reap benefit both in the prison and when they leave it. Self-interest is the most powerful persuasive force which can be urged to prevent them from coming again. (2.) See answer B, page 49. (3.) Women especially are crowded together without any distinction, and when discharged can only be expected to take refuge with some previously-discharged female prisoner,' the majority of whom are unfortunates. (4.) There is no Prisoners' Aid Society. 12. Cost of Prison and Prisoners. (1.) The cost of buildings and additions is not within the knowledge of the Visiting Justices. Annual repairs are made by prison labour. No additions have been made to the furniture since the construction of the Gaol, except by prison labour. (2.) Governor and Gaoler, £250 ; one Chief Warder, £150 ; one Storekeeper and AVardcr, £125 ; one Gatekeeper and AVarder, £125; one Senior Warder, £125 ; three Overseers and Warders, £124 each; fourteen AVarders, £112 each; one Matron, £90; one Assistant Matron, £60: total £2,865 per annum. Average per head of prisoners, £17 9s. 4d. (calculated on average number of prisoners during five years). (3.) There is no distinction as to rations between penal-servitude men and hard-labour men. Last year (1877) rations cost £1,333 6s. sd. Average cost per head for penal-servitude and hard-labour men, £10 Bs. 3d. (4.) AVithone. (5.) No. (6.) They are inspected on reception into the Gaol, and any fault found with them at any time, whether by the officers of the Gaol or by prisoners, is reported to the Governor, who sees that they are (if improper) replaced by proper supplies. (7.) According to return for last year (1877), male prisoners sentenced to hard-labour, penal servitude, &c, £4,109 2s. 9d.; female prisoners (hard-labour), £1,070 4s. 9d. (8.) The cost of penal-servitude and hard-labour prisoners, after deducting share of salaries and rations, £6 9s. 7d. This includes the expense of bedding, clothing, tools, &c, lighting, medical comforts, and every other item of expenditure. 13. Pardons, Remissions, Petitions, and Recommendations. (1.) John Thompson, sentenced sth January, 1875, to four years' penal servitude for embezzlement, first conviction ; discharged by free pardon, 22nd May, 1876; amount remitted, one year aud four months. Neil Beaton, sentenced 6th October, 1873, to six years' penal servitude for larceny as a bailee, first conviction ; discharged by free pardon 24th May, 1877 ; amount remitted, four and a half months. James McKay, sentenced sth January, 1872, to eight years' penal servitude for rape, and also condemned to pay costs incurred in his conviction-, discharged by free pardon 3rd July, 1877, after serving two months' additional imprisonment for non-payment of costs ; first conviction. Daniel Donohue, sentenced sth July, 1876, to three years' penal servitude for larceny ; discharged by free pardon 29th December, 1877 ; amount of remission, one year and three months ; eleven previous convictions. (2.) (a.) Beaton, McKay, and Donohue on their own petitions ; recommendations not known to the Visiting Justices, (b.) Beaton, ill health ; McKay, inability to pay the costs ordered; Donohue, loss of sight of an eye through an accident while at his work, (c.) As stated above. (3.) There have been no such cases. 14. Special Suggestions. The only instances, other than those of a trivial character, are as follow: Drinking with prisoners while on escort duty, drunkenness, insubordination ; three in all. In each case the offenders have been dismissed. During the year 1877,173 prisoners were received into the prison for breaches of the Vagrant Act, and 366 for drunkenness, most of the latter class offending for tho express purpose of bringing themselves under the A'agrant Act. It is well known that a very large proportion of the prisoners, quite 20 per cent., are sent to the prison because they cannot earn a livelihood, and there is no other place to send them to. Such prisoners are in every way unprofitable, and it is suggested that some other place than a gaol should be found for men whose only offences are extreme poverty, arising from inability to work on account of old age, semi-idiotcy, or ill-health. Prisoners sentenced to one week and under should be kept apart from other prisoners at work ; this class of men are of no service, and cause irregularities. ll.—lmprovement of Oid Prisons. (1.) (a!) The new division should be kept for female prisoners only in order to classify them Other accommodation would have to be made for debtors and waiting-trial, &c, prisoners. The buildings in the old division would not afford means for any further classification than the present, (b.) The separation for prisoners sentenced to seven days and under, as suggested in previous answer, would be more profitable than separation for first month of imprisonment.