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Conclusion. I desire to place on record my appreciation of the generous help given by a very large number of voluntary helpers who have assisted the Department in connection with the in-care work by way of lectures, educational talks, cultural entertainment, and personal visitation, and in after-care work in finding released men employment and assisting them in other ways. In this connection I desire especially to mention the Women's Borstal Association, the Young Men's Borstal Association, the Visiting Committees, the Prisoners' Aid Societies, the Probation Committees, and the Justices' Association. The Department is also under a debt of gratitude to the clergymen and missioners of the various religious denominations, and the officers of the Salvation Army and others, who visit the institutions to minister to the spiritual wellbeing of the prisoners. Prisons should not be places of entertainment and comfort, nor should they be places of repression. When the interests of society or of the justice which it administers conflict with individual desires or liberty the latter must yield to the interests of the community as a whole, but it must be seen that the restriction of individual liberty, as far as practicable, is purposeful and constructive. Men become good socially by becoming good individually, and fundamental to individual goodness is the infusion of higher and nobler principles and ideals, the provision of educational facilities calculated to create an understanding and purposeful objective in life, and an opportunity so to function when released as to be relieved, as far as possible, of economic and physical hardships and anxieties. In administering a system dealing with human equations the personal touch is even of greater importance than the orderliness of the institutional regimen, and although in this respect the highest tribute can be paid to the loyal and sympathetic service rendered by the staffs of the various institutions, there is no doubt that the diffusion of interest among a wide section of voluntary workers is a vital and essential factor in securing the most effective administration of the prison system. Apart from the individual benefit to the prisoners through their contacts with outside visitors inspired with high ideals of social service, there is the further advantage that it is helpful to the administration to have the backing of an enlightened and sympathetic public opinion comprising people who have a knowledge and understanding of the problem, its complexities and difficulties, and an appreciation of the work that is being done. I therefore am grateful to all those voluntary workers who have assisted, and also to the members of the staff for the loyal service rendered during the year. B. L. Dallard, Controller-General of Prisons.
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