A GAOL NEWSPAPER.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1633, 27 December 1912, Page 4

A GAOL NEWSPAPER.

FIRST ISSUE OF THE "COMPENDIUM." I cannot tell how the truth may be, I say the tale us 'twas said to me. The above (states the Sydney "Daily Telegraph") is the motto '.of the Sydney gaol newspaper,- the "Compendium," tho first issue of which is now ready, aud will be distributed among prisoners .in the gaols of the State before Christmas. Tho journal has been printed on paper of a distinctive colour, green,., in order, the Minister for Justice has explained, that it may not be confused with any other paper which, might possibly be smuggled into a prisoner's possession. It consists chiefly of news items relating to current events of importance clipped from daily and weekly newspapers. The one subject that is not dealt with is politics,- and tho source of all the items.quoted is given. - The Minister for Justice, in an official memorandum; states that the paper is the outcome of a suggestion by the council .of tho Prisoners' Aid Association. He himsalf has written the first' leader, 'which states, inter alia:— ' ..'■'.'

"Efforts will be made through the agency of the 'Compendium' to make it easier for the man who loaves prison to so live that he ] need not fear a return. Information will be given each monith as to the demands for labour in various parts of the country, with particular reference to localities where harvesting operations, shearing, and railways works are going on, so that any reader whose sentence expires, and who wants to go in-for honest toil, will know in which direction inducements are .offering.

"An attempt will also be made to convey to all readers a general idea of the world's progress, so that a man leaving prison will not have, in addition to other difficulties,, that of attempting to conceal his ignorance concerning events well known to everyone else,- or having to account for it by admitting to 'a past which it is well for both him and the community should be as far as possible forgotten." The paper includes some poetical features, the authors including Henry Kendall, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Robert Burns, and Thomas Moore. ■"