Taiaroa Head, and the former of whom superintended the breakwater and mole at the North Head.
While the various undertakings engaged in are necessarily entrusted to competent men, the great responsibility attaching to the works rests upon the chief officer, the gaoler, under whose supervision operations are conducted, and this, with the management of the prison and its inmates, and, in addition, the duties entailed upon him as Probation Officer, and the vast correspondence connected with all the branches of his department, makes his office to be no sinecure. Mr. Henry Monson, the first gaoler, was followed in succession by Mr. John Stoddart, Mr. James Caldwell, and Mr. S. C. Phillip, who is now in command; and the trying position of matron has been successively held by Mrs. Stoddart, Miss Heard, and Mrs. Shirley—the last-named lady being now in harness. Until 1877 Dunedin gaol was under the wing of the Otago Provincial Government, but on the abolition of the Provinces it, in common with the other gaols of the colony, was transferred to the General Government; and upon the appointment of Captain Hume as Inspector of Prisons it was placed under the one general and uniform system then adopted. Besides the Chief Inspectorship, the gaol is under the supervision of visiting justices and two official visitors. Upon the former gentlemen various powers are conferred, and among them that of adjudicating in special cases of discipline; but the latter gentlemen—Messrs. J. Matthews and William Simpson—only visit the prison and freely converse with the prisoners when they see fit, and report to head-quarters from time to time. The inmates have thus, through the visiting justices and the official visitors, ample opportunities for making themselves heard when they deem they have cause for complaint. The visiting justices are: Mr. E. H. Carew, R. M.; Captains Baldwin and Thompson, Dr. Hislop, and Messrs E. B. Cargill, John Logan, W. L. Simpson, G. G. Russell, W. P. Street, G. Fenwick, W. Elder, and J. R. Mason. Dr. Williams was the first visiting medical officer to the prison. He was succeeded in the capacity of Provincial Surgeon by the late Dr. Hulme, and since that gentleman's decease the duties of the office have been assiduously discharged by Dr. R. Burns. Mr. S. Smith, subsequently minister of the Congregational
