1.—4,

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by open iron gates ; those on remand or committed for trial behind the hard-labour men. The debtors who choose to attend are seated near the entrance door. The female prisoners are brought into the debtors-room, where they can see the minister and be seen by him, but not by the male prisoners. (5.) There is a small organ, which is used at Divine service on Sundays, but at no other time. There is both music and singing at the Protestant service, but not at the Roman Cptholic. There is no music or singing taught on wet days. (6.) Bibles and Prayer-books are provided for the prisoners, and there is a library of 500 volumes, consisting of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, Chambers's Miscellany, Good Words, Sunday at Home, Leisure Hour, Household AVords, All the Year Bound, Cornhill Magazine, McMillan's Magazine, Family Herald, Cassell's Magazines, and a quantity of others. A catalogue is handed to the prisoners every Saturday afternoon, from wdiich they select the books they require. These are returned the following week, and fresh books issued. The library is very much appreciated. Books most used are those containing amusing and interesting stories, such as the Family Herald, London Journal, or Cassell's Magazine. Sometimes we get a man who would read a scientific work or a book of travels, but very seldom. They do not care for such books as a rule. (7.) Reading, w rriting, and arithmetic are taught for an hour and a half every evening. Educated prisoners act as schoolmasters. Good work has been done. Many prisoners have been taught to read and write who could not do so on entering the Gaol; others have improved very much in both reading and writing. We never have juvenile offenders for a sufficient length of time to teach them anything—seldom more than a month. They are kept in their cells, apart from the other prisoners, and the schoolmaster teaches them what he can, as opportunity offers. (8.) Ladies from the Christian' Association visit the women every Saturday afternoon. They read to them, talk with them, and offer to find them employment when they leave the Gaol if they will conduct themselves properly. A gentleman (Mr. Morpeth) visits the male prisoners for a similar purpose, by permission of the Visiting Justices. He also occasionally visits the women. 11. Moral Fffects of Imprisonment. (1.) (a.) Existing punishments, as a rule, do not deter men from committing crime. Most offences are committed while under the influence of intoxicating drink, and when men are not sober. They are utterly regardless of consequences, and will continue to commit offences, no matter what the punishment may be. (2.) They are kept apart from hardened offenders as much as possible. (3.) There are two men at the present time in the Gaol that are causing a very great amount of trouble by inciting other prisoners to acts of insubordination and attempts to escape. They will also incite them to commit robberies when they leave the Gaol. If men of this class could be kept separate from others, it would tend very much to preserve order and discipline in the Gaol. Under existing circumstances they are a source of constant anxiety and insubordination. (4.) No. 12. Cost of Prisons and Prisoners. (1.) (2.) Salaries in aggregate, 1877: January, £161 10s. 2d. ; February, £14S 16s. Bd,; March, £161 10s. 2d. ; April, £156 lis. Bd.; May, £161 10s. 2d. ; June, £155 ss. Bd. ; July, £160 16s. 2d.; August, £161 10s. 2d. ; September, £156 lis. Bd.; October, £154 3s. 2d. ; November, £155 19s. Bd. ; December, £162 16s. 2d. : total salaries, £1,897 Is. 6d. Salaries in detail: Gaoler, £350; Matron, £50; two turnkeys, one at 10s. and one at 9s. per diem ; three under-turnkeys at Bs. 6d. per diem ; two overseers at 7s. 6d. per diem; three overseers at 7s. per diem; one female turnkey at 4s. per diem. Total salaries, £1,897 Is. 6d.; per head, £25 12s. B|d. Rations, £797 7s. 9Jd.; per head, £10 15s. 6d. Sundries, £489 16s. 7Jd.; per head, £6 12s. sd. Total annual cost. £43 Os. 7Jd. Cost per diem, 2s. 4Jd. (3.) Cost of rations in aggregate for 1877, £797 7s. 9Jd-; cost per head, £10 15s. 6d. (a), (b). The cost is the same for penal-servitude and hard-labour prisoners. (4.) Meat from J. and H. Barber; all other food-supplies from T. Whitehouse. (5.) Some of them deal occasionally wdth both, as they would with any other tradesman in the town, and pay current rates for all they purchase. None of them are supplied by contract or at contract price. (6.) The supplies are inspected by the chief officer immediately they are brought to the Gaol, aud if found to be deficient in quantity or quality he at once informs the Gaoler, who immediately has the matter rectified. (7.) See answer to question 5, section 5. (8.) 13. Pardons, Remissions, Petitions, and Recommendations. (1) aud (2). Alexander McDonald, sentenced to three years' penal servitude for shooting a horse ; no previous conviction ; amount of remission, one year and eight months, (b.) Not known. Henry McCaull, sentenced to two months' imprisonment for damaging a trig, statiou; no previous conviction ; amount of remission, one month and eleven days, (b.) Not known. Richard Gordon, sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard labour for horse-stealing; no previous conviction ; amount of remission, one year and ten months, (b.) Prosecutor alleged to have committed perjury. James Mackay, sentenced to seven days' imprisonment for assault; no previous conviction; amount of remission, four days, (b.) Petition by the inhabitants of AVellington. (3.) None. 14. Special Suggestions. A system of increased pay for long service, with the certainty of a pension or superannuation allowance after a period of fifteen or twenty years, or on a man becoming unfit for further service from 10—I. 4