"ISLE OF PRINCES."

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXII, 26 October 1916, Page 2

"ISLE OF PRINCES."

GENERAL TOWNSHEND'S PRISON

Prinkopo, General Townsliend's island prison, is.. in the &ea of Marmora, an nour's steam from Uonstanj-iiopie. it is a pretty spot, with, vinas and gairueuSj and a yacht ciuo; buo it lias long been utilised by tne various ■'buitana of Turkey as a place of banisnnient tor State prisoners. Its very name—"is..c or jfrinces"—proclaims th's fact. Many a scion of the imperial Ottoman norti>o has lingered out nis existence amid its curve groves and orange orchards, seeing afar off the dim blur of the Turkish capital, but cat- oif for ever from ail participation in the life or pleasure and gaiety v^ut. is ,i.ed tiieie m normal times.

Britain, although few people probably asre aware of. it, possesses a similar island prison. This is Mane, in the In-d-aii ucean, one of the Seychelles Archipelago, and which is known locally as "The Island of Captive Kings." To this lonely spot was" exiled King Prempeh of Ashanci, after we deposed him on account? of Jiis many cruelties. To Mahe, too, came in due course the bloodthirsty King Kabbaregga- of Unyoro, King Mwanga of Uganda, the murderer of the martyred Jiishop, Hannington, and other savage potentates from various parts of the world, interned there for, their own and their country's good. {Sakhalin has been christened? ;th.B "Isle of Murderers." It is situated off the coast of Serbia, and the whole of the northern portion, which belongs to Russia, is utilised as a penal establishment for prisoners convicted of what in most -other countries would be a capital crime. A few years back it was estimated that there were above 8000 murderers on this lonely sea-girt island, of whom about 700 were women.

Britain set the example more than 100 years ago by establishing penal colonies on Norfolk Island and elsewhere. France followed suit by utilising New Caledonia in the Pacific and Devil's island rin the Atlantic. Chili sent her convicts to the Ghincha Islands, and other small similar islets off her long stretch of coast line, where they were employed, in gathering guano, often under circumstances of great cruelty. Owing to the difficulty of properly supervising these island prisons, they are very apt to degenerate into places of torment for the hapless beings confined there. When we conquered German West Africa we found upon an island there some 1500 native Herreros, the sole survivors of 6000 poor, wretches transported there by the Huns after the stamping out of the rebellion into whiQh they were driven some years previously by the cruelty of their conquerors, i It. must not be supposed, however, that all island prisons are badly managed. There are exceptions. 'One such is found in Fernando de | Noronha, an island that serves as a place of banishment for Brazil's convicts. The rule here is that two-thirds of the prisoners must labor on itie land. These live in villages, and ar.e; employed in field and plantation work, and an tending the sheep and cattle. The rest live in the town, and are engaged at different handicrafts in the workshop, or fish in catamarans, the native Brazilian . canoes. All have to work for their food and clothing, which tliey obtain from the Government stores in pro-; portion to the /work performed. There are two good schools on the island-; one for the children of the officers and solduers, and one for the children of convicts. At the age of 12 the sons of convicts are sent to a military .school at Pernambuco. The gh% are allowed to stay oh the island if they wish to do so.