THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1912 PRISON NEWSPAPERS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10712, 2 October 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1912 PRISON NEWSPAPERS.

The announcement was recently made by cable that the New South Wales Government intended establishing a newspaper for publication among the prisoners of tho State. No indication was . given of the character of the newspaper, other than that it was not to embrace politics, The suggestion probably is that the doings of Speaker Willis would not be calculated to improve tho morals of tho occupants of tho prison cells. The idea of publishing newspapers in gaols is not new. In the celebrated Sing Sing Prison in New York State there is a news-sheet known as the Star of Hope, which may bo regarded as not inappropriate; and in the Minnesota Penitentiary they have the Prison Mirror. The cable does not state who are to be the contributors to the New South Wales compendium, but

in America the whole of the writing, editing, composing, and publishing is done within the gaol. In nearly every gaol in the world there is considerable latent talent, and it is on record that some of the finest works ever printed have been written in prison. Pephaps the most pathetic literary contribution of the present century was written by Oscar Wildo when in gaol. Tt, is said that poetry has a refining influence upon humanity, and this is probably why the New South Wales Government proposes that verse, shall occupy a prominent place in the prison newspaper. Tt was to the writing of verso that a certain inmate of the Minnesota Penitentiary—an Englishman, by the way —owed his ultimate release."Her verse a.ud prose attracted the attention of literary men, who interested themselves in his hehalf. A specimen verse reads : Labour and brooding—is there then no rest? Day follows day, and in the silent nights Throng ghostly memories of past delights. Faces T loved and lips that T have pressed. Until the sullen, deep-toned morning hell Wakes mo to face a yesterday again, With all its bitter agony of pain. Thou didst not linger, Dante, in thy hell. The Now South Wales Government

H may, tor the benefit ef posterity and of students of criminology, insist upon the articles contributed to the prison paper being signed. It may also decide that the law- of libel shall not apply to the publication, and that reports of Court proceedings shall be eliminated. The experiment will bo watched with interest, and may be Mowed eventually in New Zealand. An occupant of the Millbank Prison, on the Thames Embankment, which is now an art gallery, was of a literary turn of mind, and scratched the following lines on his dinner can t Millbank for thick' shins and graft at the pump; Broadmoor for all lags as go off their chump "J Brixton for good toko and cocoa with fat: Dartmoor for bad grub, but plenty of chat; Portsmouth, a blooming bad place for hard work; Chatham on Sunday gives four ounce of pork; Portland is worst of the lot for to joke in; For fetching a, lagging there's no place like Woking. Poetry of tho above description, though not altogether inspiring, might have a. salutary effect upon the budding criminal. But the idea probably is to engage the minds of the prisoners, rather than to develop their poetical talents. If this be so, would it not be more effective to supply the prisoners with good, wholesome literature?