RIPA ISLAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 January 1918, Page 5

RIPA ISLAND.

THE NEW INTERNMENT CAMP. An impression exists, states The Dominion, in some quarters that because Ripa Island, the new internment cjftnp in Lvttelton harbor, ia small and close to the mainland, it is a place from which escape would be easy. Correspondents who have visited the island point out that the channel between the island and the mainland is very narrow, and would be crossed easily by venturesome men. The official view is that the island will make a very secure place of detention. The island is a fortress, constructed in days long past, but still formidable from the standpoint of a prisoner detained there. It lias underground galleries and chambers, and certain buildings that have already been found to be effective places of detention, The prisoner who crossed the channel would liave to do so under the. Tifle of a sentry, and if he made the crossing safely, he Would find himself on an exposed hillside with a mile or more to travel under the rifles of the guard. The other 3ide of the harbor, on a level higher than Ripa Island, was fortified very many years ago, and the whole os the island lies under observation. The prisoner who made good his escape from the island would find himself on Banks Peninsula, with very small chance indeed either of getting any sore of boat or of escaping to the plains. People who are alarmed lest the 'Germans may escape from Ripa Island may rest assured that every point has ibeen carefully considered.