H—2o

INDUSTRIAL AND FINANCIAL Hereunder is set out a comparative statement covering the gross expenditure from the departmental vote and the credits that have resulted from the sales of production derived by the effective marshalling of prison labour:—

The increased expenditure of some £17,000 from the vote under the control of the Department is due almost entirely to two factors. The first is the application to the Prison service of a new salary scale as from Ist April, 1946, and the second is due to the increasing amount paid for overtime. The extra overtime payments have been necessary because of the continuing staff shortage and the introduction of a forty-hour week to the Prison service as from the Ist October, 1946. The credits to the departmental vote are very much on a par with those of previous years, but had supervisory staff been available in Auckland to enable the quarry to be worked there would have been a substantial increase under this heading. The Department's industrial activities, covering as they do a wide range of instructional and productive work, have been carried on with a small addition in the shape of a book-bindery at the Invercargill Borstal. This additional institutional activity has been of use not only for the value of the work itself in widening the interest of the boys, but also in assisting the local authority in the rebinding of books for the public library. As has been mentioned in previous departmental reports, an arrangement was made early in the war for the utilization for pig-food of kitchen waste from Trentham Camp and from Air Force establishments near Wellington. This arrangement was entered into with a view to increasing the Department's output of pig-meats to assist in making available extra food-supplies. Now that the sources of supply of pig-swill have practically returned to what they were on a pre-war basis, it is of interest to review the Department's activities in this connection : For the year 1939-40, pig-meat estimated at 104,000 lb. was produced by the Department, but, with the extra food available and the effort made to increase production, this figure rose to a peak figure of 272,000 lb. in 1942-43. The output under this heading was for the past year 141,000 lb., and with the cessation of swill from Army establishments will return more nearly to pre-war production. Over the period 1939-47, sales of pigs totalled 13,161, representing some 1,584,000 lb. of meat, a contribution to production for which institutional managements concerned are to be commended. On the general farming side of the Department's activities each farm has contributed to a total revenue under this heading of some £54,000. This is a slight decrease on the total for 1945-46, but this is almost wholly due to the reduction in output of pig-meats. At the present time at Waikeria a new milking-shed is being erected which it is hoped will enable an extra 100 cows to be milked during the coming season. It is proposed also to extend the milking activities at Hautu Prison farm as materials become more readily available.

6

Year. Gross Expenditure. Credits. Ifet Expenditure. Total. Per Head. Total. Per Head. Total. Per Head. £ £ £ £ £ £ 1937-38 .. 164,132 192-64 69,075 81-07 95,057 111-56 1938-39 .. 152,093 177-89 64,910 75-92 87,183 101-97 1939-40 .. 155,333 170-16 74,348 81-97 80,985 88-19 1940-41 .. 162,426 179-47 77,908 86-08 84,518 93-39 1941-42 .. 158,704 163-44 80,514 82-92 78,190 80-52 1942-43 .. 166,982 161-34 99,336 95-98 67,646 65-36 1943-44 .. 173,089 159-97 99,956 92-38 73,133 67-59 1944-45 179,627 174-92 100,451 97-82 79,176 77-10 1945-46 .. 195,648 186-58 98,560 93-99 97,088 92-59 1946-47 .. 212,746 201-59 97,726 92-60 115,020 108-99