SEVEN DAYS IN PRISON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9491, 21 April 1894, Page 2 (Supplement)

SEVEN DAYS IN PRISON.

7 A DEBTOR'S EXPERIENCE. 'is is not necessary to the purpose I have it band to know who or what I am. But ] may ray that lam a professional man; and ' I trust there are not many who will have t< undergo the penalties of that playful fictior called "contempt of courb," and spend a few days of quiet solitude and reflection a) a debtor in one of Her Majesty's prisons. Such has been my fate. Among mj fellow-sufierars or companions, or both, ] found men of all kinds— rough, som< smooth, some more educated than others i bat all of them men with straight principles and, so far as I could judge, bowed dowr by misfortune, and, to use that old hack neyed phrase, "circumstances over which they had no control." Theio was but on< exception, and no judge on the bench could have meted out heavier condemnation than was meted out to this offender by his companions. Of him more presently. And, ere I go further, I should like tc say that in the remarks I am about tc make I am not going to find fault with the officials with whom I came in contact. I am about to offer a few criticisms upon a system, or a policy, or a something—call it what you will. On the whole, considering the various types of character with whom they have to deal, the officials were kind and humane. They discharged their duties with zeal, impartiality, and moderation. The higher the official the more pronounced this was. The ordinary warder was some thing not quite, like the ordinary policeman? He had a little brief authority, and it was laughable to see the way in which he used it. Bub there was a good, warm, honest heart beneath the official uniform after all. There was considerable officialism, but no severity. And lam quite certain it is a man's own fault if he be not as kindly treated as the unintelligible redtape 'rules will permit. The governor was in every respect a thorough, kindly, gentle English gentleman, and if he can discover himself in these lines, 1 would tell him that there was uever anything but the kindest and warmest word towards him on the lips of the unfortunates committed to his care. I was in the position of one who, after a considerable struggle, found himself unable to comply with the order of a County Courb. The amount was nob large, and would merely be ridiculed by thousands. I was committed for seven days. And for seven days l went; and, legally, seven days I stayed. That is, I wenb in on Monday evening, and camo oub on the Saturday morning. I will begin by describing my captive life.

ON ARRIVING. I arrived on the Monday evening in charge of ono of the kindest and besthearted guardians any man could have, and was very hospitably received. True, my very few things were taken away from me —a pen and pencil, a walking-stick, a rug, a comb and brush, and a volume of Dickens ; also my money—not much. In return I was given a pair of rough sheets, marked with the broad arrow— symbol which pervaded everything with which I had to do, except the bedstead; even down to the wooden spoon, which was so flat that you could jot, without the skill of a conjuror, get anything into it. In the "cell," or room, as it is euphemistically called, there was a little stool, marked in three places with the Government symbol, one or two simple utensils, an appalling supply of salt; a —which I, ab least, had never any occasion to use—a little table about 18 inches or two feet square, firmly fixed into the wall, and bedding. I ought to say that I had a Bible and prayer-book, both with leaves outof course where they were wanted—and later on a hymn-book, suffering from the same complaint. In fact, this disease seemed to be epidemic in all the literature of the place. The few books—l think three—that I was enabled to get were, in more senses than one, illustrated with •' cuts." Everything, excepting the books, was scrupulously clean and well ordered, and was bound— is right—to be kept so. After making my bed—which, in spite of my position, afforded me considerable amusement, for, after all, I gob the sheets where the blankets should have been, and vice versa— turned in. It was a strange peculiar teeling to have the key turned upon you for the first time in your life. Still, I was weary, and fell asleep and dreamt of "home." At six o'clock in the morning the bell rang out its deep sonorous tones, and some minutes after the doors of the ''rooms ' were thrown open, gas lighted, and the morning cleaning began. This, J. fancy, was made to last as long as possible, just to vary the tedious monotony, which was the most unbearable thins about the whole affair. At half-past seven came breakfast-six ounces of brown bread, and half a pint ot cocoa or a pint of grueL The food was, in its way, excellent. I could nob help wishing that every poor creature in this 'great city had as good a beginning to the day. It Is the fashion, I know, to decry the quality ot the food granted to the prisoners. Most emphatically it was not the quality, but it certainly was the quantity. A little more would have been very acceptable. CHAPEL AND EXERCISE.

After this was over the key was turned on us again. In respect there was a great difference in warders. From one we had a little; from another, who seemed to think that he had a grand chance of display, we gob none. "Lights out" with the first, when we had a decent chance of seeing the way to our mouths. "Lights out" with the last, when we could not see anything at all; and it was done with indifferent grace, that speaks but little for his feeling of humanity. At about twenty minutes to nine the miserable doors were unlocked, and "Cnapel" was cried with an emphatic utterance on the last syllable. 1 felt very much inclined to try and claim exemption, and to plead the conscience clause; but I could not, after all. It was some relief from the dreary weariness of the prison life. I went;, of course, because I was obliged. A more miserable travesty of a religious service I never attended. It really was a burlesque, pure and simple. A parson right up above us, reading a few prayers, picked out here and there, one psalm, a hymn, and then "The grace of our Lord,' with a well-bred whisper to close the scene, and some whistles from the attendant turnkeys or warders, who had never given a moment's thought to the service. Yes, they threatened the poor unfortunate boys for talking, and talk they did in spite of all the somnolent officials could do. Then we were locked up till ten. At that hour our doors were opened, and «Exercise" was proclaimed. We were admitted into a yard. The dimensions were not great, and the restrictions were ridiculous and absurd. We could not walk on a certain path to the right. We were not allowed to cross into the sacred domain of the first-class misdemeanants. Of course, that was quite right. Foolishly for a moment, and only for a moment or two, I, with a fellow-sufferer, tried to go into these sacred precincts. We were instantly stopped. We owed between us less than £S. The man who was walking there, and i who could not be approached save by high j officials, who shook hands cordially with j him—as, of course, his defalcations entitled them to do—was served with the best of the land. He had an attendant to see after tiis commits, and everything was done that, •jf course, ought to bo done to a man who nad only gone wrong to the tune of neatly two millions and a quarter. He was most emphatically a man to be taken notice of »nd shaken hands with. I envied him. DINNER AND SOCIETY. After a wretched two hours, during which we had dinner, we were liberated again from two till five. We were allowed to order our dinners if we could pay for them. Some of us did. But it was a poor experiment. Anything like a hot dinner was in a terrible state of '• tepidncss " when it came in. I had ordered mine the first day, and was hungry ; but I could not eat it, and sent half of it away. I contented nygelf, save one day, when I " went on the county," with bread and cheese and some cold pie, with a pint of beer. The other was a fraud. The soup, at the prison was very good indeed, but they feed you like wild beasts and not like men. No knife or except you paid for your dinner. After "exercise" in the '-'grounds" we were thrust into a common room. I have no reason to complain of the treatment I received there from my brothers in misfortune. We could talk ; we could talk ; bub not one scrap of anything to make life bearable was to be found. "Remand prisoners, most of whom would become convicted criminals, were allowed daily papers (six I think) and the illustrated weeklies; and we, poor debtors, that £50

would have liberated, were allowed nothing but what) we could getand that wan with very great difficulty. I managed to get one paper in my time. A brother in difficulty kindly lent me his from morning till two o'clock, and also slipped into my hand the sweetest orange I ever ate. He was a naturalised Frenchman and, wherever he be, I bless him. Ab five o'clock we were turned in and locked in. For three hours we hod to en* dure the misery of that wretched time. Then a bell rang lights out, to be awakened again in the morning at six o'clock, with the same senseless, ridiculous monotony MJbO| fore. M SOME HARD OASES. _ Wf Now I am not complaining, nor did 1 anyone who did—except one, who had no business to complain ab all. True, I came across a few peculiar cases. I only know what they said, but, from what I saw of their tearful eyes and heavy hearts, X believe what they said. I was thoroughly sorry for most of them, and their grief , made me almost forgeb mine. One was a poor tradesman in the picture-frame line. I His wife was in the hospital. He had four little children. He started a small shop in a poor district. For a fortnight all went well; then collapse. Then unable to pay rent, also rates—a month in prison. But a friendly butcher had taken him by the hand and helped his children. On the Thursday afternoon of my week's " experience" a man was brought in. He stood nearly six feet, broad, well-built, ruddy-faced, with a kind, genial, but thoroughly careworn aspect. He told me he was "in" for £2 that he had been out of work for six months ; that he had left his wife, without being able to tell her where he was, that morning with a baby a fortnight old. He had got work that morning at £2 a week, as a bottle-filler, and he had only been at work for three hours when the county court officer arrested him and bore him away. In answer to my further inquiry he said that he expected to lose his place, and didn't know what to do. He was committed for ten days. At the end of that time he would be discharged on the wide, wide world. This system degrades the man and. casts him down. It knocks the heart out of him. It makes him reckless and casts him into despair. It causes him many needless, weary,, wretched hours. In many cases it ruins him completely. It does no good to the creditor, as a rule. Very few men will go to prison if they can possibly pay their creditor's claims. I am sure from what I saw, and from what I felt, and from the ever-enduring bitterness against the system I brought away with me, that this miserable farce and this detestable cruelty are perfectly useless in recovering debt, and that they can only tend to drive mon deeper into ruin.—Pall Mall Budget.