H.—2o

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being overcome, and as soon as the necessary desks and other school furniture can be made classes will be commenced in the two large prisons mentioned. The accommodation at the Wellington Prison is too limited to enable us to find, any available space for a schoolroom at present. Btdldings. Auckland. —An additional wing of this Prison has been completed, the whole of the work being carried out by prison labour. An extensive enclosure has also been made by the erection of a high stone wall in order to provide further yard accommodation in view of the erection of the final wing of the prison, which is to be commenced shortly. Invercargill. —An extension to this Prison has also been completed, and there is now accommodation for 100 prisoners. Waikeria. —An additional cell-house to accommodate twenty additional prisoners, an implementshed, and other buildings have been erected by the officers and prisoners since the end of the year. Other Works. The reclamation of the Waihopai Estuary at Invercargill by prison labour, which was commenced some time ago, has been carried on vigorously during l.he year, and the Gaoler's report shows that considerable progress has been made. As stated in the remarks regarding Waikeria, a large amount of valuable work has been done, while the departmental credits show that quarrying at Auckland, New Plymouth, and Napier, brickmaking at Wellington, industrial work at Lyttelton, matmaking at Dunedin, and concrete-block making and vegetable-growing at Invercargill have brought in revenue to the extent of over £5,000, which certainly makes an appreciable reduction in the cost of maintaining our prisons. An important and valuable class of work is also being carried on at the tree-planting camps. Tree-planting at I'oint Halswell, Wellington. By direction of the Minister of Justice tree-planting operations were extended to the neighbourhood of Wellington early in the current year, prison labour having been utilized to plant the bare, wind-swept hillsides of the Defence Reserve at Point Halswell with suitable trees. The work has been carried out on lines laid down by the Forestry Department, and it is hoped that in a few years' time the growth of the trees will be sufficient to make a marked improvement in the appearance of that part of the Miramar Peninsula. A number of short sentence prisoners from the Point Halswell Prison have been usefully employed in "pitting" and planting for some months past, and a certain amount of prison labour will be employed for some time to come in looking after the growing trees and planting others where they may be required. Staff. The Gaolers and staff s of the various prisons are complimented on their work during the year, and on the year's record for good conduct as evidenced by the small number of reports against, officers. It is also satisfactory to find that we have a good class of man coming forward to fill the vacancies caused by retirements, &c, and that under existing conditions we have no difficulty in obtaining probationary warders up to the standard required by the Prison Regulations. This improvement in the supply of recruits is no doubt partly due to the fact that the salary scale was amended and improved as from the Ist January last. A general increase in the salaries of warders of all classes was provided, while the time taken for a salary in any class to rise to the maximum was much reduced. General. Health of Prisoners. —The amount of sickness in the prisons during the year has been comparatively small, the daily average number of prisoners on the sick-list, as shown by Table A, being only 14-05, as compared with 14-60 for 1911 ; while the " total number of days ill," as shown by the same table, was 5,138, as against 5,329 for the previous year. - Deaths. —ls persons died in prison, as compared with 6in 1911 —7 at Auckland, sat Wellington, 1 at Dunedin, 1 at Napier, and 1 at Lyttelton. Escapes. —During the year there were 10 escapes, against Bin 1911 —1 from Waiotapu, 1 from Waipa, 5 from Wellington, and 3 from Invercargill. Punishments. —250 prison offences were recorded in 1912, against 171 persons, thus showing a considerable reduction as compared with 1911, when there was a record of 413 ofiences against 252 prisoners. First Offenders' Probation Act. Table J shows that 79 persons were placed on probation, as against 94 in 1911. Of these, 11 have so far satisfactorily carried out the terms of their licenses and been discharged, 2 have been rearrested, 5 absconded, and 61 still remain under the supervision of the Probation Officers. The amounts ordered to be paid by the various Courts towards the costs of prosecution amount to £342 14s. lid., of which the sum of £176 12s. Bd. has already been collected. We have, &c, Prank Hay, C. E. Matthews.