CORRESPONDENCE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 103, 2 May 1914, Page 9

CORRESPONDENCE

STRIKE PRISONERS 10 Till EDITOR. Sir,— 'You are trying to make Pat Hassett look worse than he is. ,' You say he _ was the worst culprit caught. Well, sir, that is a lie. I saw .what was going on for a week, and he was not in it at all. Now, sif," lam asking for justice for his four little children. The eldest is eight .years, and the youngest is eighteen months, 'and I am deaf in both ears and not able to earn my own living, and I have to keep four children and myself. ■ I go out washing for three paltry shillings a day to keep body and soul together while my husband has got everything he wants t up there (in prison). 'Well, sir, there is some good in the man ; so can't you give liim a chance. A year would be quite enough for what he did. 'All the trouble falls on my shoulders ..if they keep him in that long. There is nothing for me but the street, and so far I have tried to keep clear of the street. — I am, etc., MRS. . MAY HASSETT. Wellington, r 29th April. ' [The Post (lid not state thab Hassett was "the worst culprit," but "One of the worst culprits caught." The blame for any trouble or unhappiness jto Mrs. Hassett by recent references to this case must be borne by the executive of the Red Federation of Labour, particularly the secretary, Mr. Hickey. In an attempt to mislead the publio .'about the serious offences committed by strikers and their sympathiser a circular (published in The Post of last Monday) was issued. ','The sentences inflicted upon these unionists are from two years downwards," ran one passage. The words from "two years downwards" . were evidehtly intended to convey a suggestion of drastic punishment of "clean-living men arid good citizens." As- there was only one sentence of two yeairs, it was The Post's duty to the public to thoroughly expose the Red's ruse. Mrs. Hassett has drawn attention to one anomaly of the prison system which The Post has frequently discussed. "My husband has everything he wants," she writes. He has at least sufficient plain food, clothing, and shelter. ' It was necessary to punish him for his own good and as a warning to others, but the keenest sufferers may be his dependents. They do not seem to be getting much aid from the Red Federation, whose leaders have continually misguided the workers, The time is long overdue for a rational system,' by which prisoners will have facilities to earn money for the maintenance -of dependents. The present scheme is wasteful and glaringly defective from the economic view point. The ' plight of Mrs. Hassett and her children does call for kindly notice.)