75

1.—4

APPENDIX.

Medical Officer's Report on Auckland Gaol. 1. The site of Mount Eden Gaol is secluded and sufficiently salubrious, if the general healthiness of the prisoners is a good test. The propriety of its construction would not be maintained by any one familiar with the plan of county gaols in the. Home country (Ireland for instance). Ventilation and sewerage are of the most primitive kind. 2. The general health of the prisoners is all that can be desired, the average number of hospital cases being about three per diem. 3. The deaths during the last five years have amounted to ten, being 1$ per cent. The average mortality of the inhabitants of the district, I imagine, is much higher, and may be found in the Registrar-General's annual statistics. 4. Thfre are no special diseases at present, nor have there been any, if we may except accidents. 5. The dietary scale is well calculated to maintain the prisoners in health and vigour requisite for labour. 6. Tho apparent physical signs in prisoners generally are robust health and contentment stamped on their countenances. 7. The hospital arrangements are of the most primitive character. They have sufficed in the majority of such cases of illness as have occurred hitherto, but in the event of a contagious infectious disease breaking out would be utterly inadequate to meet the requirements of the sick. 8. As to the Medical Officer's opinions or suggestions in matters generally, it is as clear as noonday that a new prison on modern principles, and an isolated properly-appointed hospital or infirmary for male and female prisoners, are imperatively required. In a few instances prisoners, when taken seriously ill, have had to be removed to the District Hospital for proper accommodation and treatment.

Medical Officer's Report on Dunedin Gaol. 1. a. No objection on sanitary grounds can be taken to the salubrity of the site. There are many open spaces around the prison walls, the bay is in close proximity, aud no manufacturing industry deleterious to health is carried on in its vicinity. b, c, and d. My comparatively recent official connnection with the Gaol hardly entitles me to pronounce on its propriety of construction, but the ventilation throughout all parts of tho building is good and abundant; no unpleasant smell is anywhere perceptible, and the water-closets are ample in number and so flushed that no impure air can bo generated, far less allowed to accumulate. 2. The general health of the prisoners is good. 3. Five deaths have occurred in the last five years, the average yearly number of prisoners during that period being 875. I believe this compares favourably with the average death-rate outside ; but no exactitude can be attained in the absence of yearly census returns, and the registered death-rate of Dunedin proper being swelled by that of the surrounding districts and the general Hospital. 4. There are no special diseases in gaol, or in Dunedin. 5. The rations of the prisoners are sufficiently ample, without being in excess. In the case of ailing men, they are modified and varied, at the discretion of the Medical Officer. 6. The apparent physical effects on prisoners generally consist in a general improvement of health and vigour, observed most rapidly in those who have been living an irregular and hard life before admission. In long-sentenced men, symptoms of indigestion show themselves, or are complained of, which usually cease when a slight change of dietary is made. 7. A large airy and sun-lit room is used for acute cases of illness ; chronic cases, unless special considerations forbid, are sent into the general Hospital. 8. The absence of all epidemic disease, and the general good health of the prisoners, is ample proof that the sanitary condition of the Gaol is good, a result due in great measure to the unceasing attention of the officials to cleanliness and ventilation, and the employment of the prisoners in the open air. Robert Burns, F.R.C.S., Ed.

Chaplain's Report on Dunedin Gaol. Religious and other Instructions offered. 3. The general influence of the religious instruction is good, and the ministrations are apparently as a rule appreciated by the prisoners. Occasionally prisoners acknowledge the advantage they have derived, and in particular instances their conduct in gaol and after their discharge confirms their acknowdedgment. 4. Divine Service is held every Sabbath morning, and, when practicable, on religious holidays. 5. Yes. An excellent choir composed of prisoners leads the psalmody. A small American organ supplied to the Gaol by the present Chaplain has been of great advantage.