Untitled

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 175, 9 August 1869, Page 2

The Hatjhau Prisoners on board the City of Newcastle, are still ia charge of fche Nagtiporou guard, who came with them from Patea, under command of Inspector Ferris. The Ngafciporous will remain until the return of fche Sturt from Wanganui, when they are to be taken to the East Coast, and their places on board the hulk supplied by a much smaller guard of Europeans, under command of an officer and non-commissioned officer. The Maoris, though perfectly reliable, and efficient, are considered more expensive than Europeans. It is said that the Challenger keeps an eye on the hulk, and that an armed boats' crew is kept constantly in readiness to act in case of emergency. — Evening Post A correspondent of the Times has been exploring the " criminal haunts of South London," and, speaking with an evident knowledge ot his subject, declares that the parts about the Mint and Kent-street in the Borough are emphatically the worst neighborhoods in the metropolis. Accompanied hy a guardian and guide in the person of a detective, the writer obtained access to many notorious thieves' houses, and conversed freely with the inmates. Amongst other things, he was anxious to ascertain whether many of these dangerous classes had ever been in a refnge, and he gives the following as a conversation which took place between him and a young man of twenty-five, a professional and convicted thief : — " Have you ever been to a refuge, then ?" " Yes ; I tried to go once." " Did you stay there ?" "No, I didn't. They asks too many questions, and they asks them over and over again, and when you forgets what you said first out you goes." "But if you tell the truth at first, you surely can't forget that?" " Oh, yes you can though, when you are asked over and over again." "What questions did they ask you?" (A very long pause.) " They asked if T ha,d a father or mother alive." "Well, have you?" "No, they're both dead." " Well, if you were asked that a dozen times, you would not forget it,* would you?" " Yes I did, and they turned me but." " The truth is, you cannot get your beer and pipe at. the. Refuge ?". " Yes ; that's it (a great laugh at this), aiid . they makes you say prayers, and (this was said with a. spit of intense disgust) they makes you wash." It is a general remark that all classes of persons, are;; ready to give .their opinions^ The lawyers must be excepted— they sell ;,,theirs.v. ;/''.;', '.•'., ;'■'■:: i ;:./'." ; ' ■. :-'•:';'" :.",",, 7TT7-T,