RADIO IN GAOL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 52, Issue 145, 31 March 1932, Page 3

RADIO IN GAOL

PRISONERS CONCEAL SETS. WARDERS' SEARCH FUTILE. » ' (Special to the "Guardian.") AUCKLAND, March 30. Warders raided the cells of prisoners in the Mount Eden Gaol on Sunday morning, in search of concealed radio sets. Part of one set was found, but the essential part, the earphones, could not lie discovered. hi defiance of prison regulations, many inmates of Mount Eden, have for a considerable time listened through cleverly concealed radio sets to the news of the day from IYA and other Auckland stations. Some of the prisoners have even been able to pick up news and concerts with miniature sets which they have carried in their pockets in matchboxes. At one prison church service, when the lid of an innocent-looking Bible was opened, a perfect miniature set was found coiled up. A depression had been made through cutting a circular hole in the pages. .In some mysterious way, the best earphones that money can buy have at times been smuggled into the gaol, and for weeks the prisoners have listened in the comparative comfort of their cells to news of the outside world, which, according to the regulations, is denied them. One classic incident of the amazing way in which sets are concealed is recounted. the day of the Remuera bank sensation last year, when a bank official shot a man dead, the first news of the affair at the gaol came from a prisoner. Much to the amazement of one of the warders, a prisoner said to him: "Did you hear about the shooting at Remuera?" The prisoner then told the story. "Where did you get that news from?" asked the warder. "On the radio," said the prisoner, frankly. Next day a search for radios in the gaol was carried out, but none were found.