MANUFACTURED IN GAOL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15504, 10 January 1914, Page 5 (Supplement)

MANUFACTURED IN GAOL.

Thk story recently circulated concerning the forced banknotes alleged to have beenmade by certain inmates 'of the great' convict prison at Peterhead,' Scotland, is not. by,, any means unbelievable by- those who know something of what ,goes on behind the scenes in other;, similar institutions in England and • elsewhere. These particular, notes—although such Rood imitations of the genuine article that two or three of them' were actually passed to unsuspecting tradesmen—seemto have been more or less in the ' nature ot curios, such as are frequently made by convicts in their leisure hours, with 01 course, the connivance of their warders, who afterwards dispose of them outside the prison, sharing the proceeds vita their charges. v t ?, ait •*, rade , is done in this way in little knick-knacks, such as, for example carved stone tobacco-boxes, wooden and , ke y E™** ffl ade from leather laces, photograph frames, ana other similar articles beautifully fashioned and finished in iron and 'copper. But -other less, harmless industries are also practised in prisons by prisoners. It is not 60 very long ago, for instance, since a convict in one of the largest establishments of the kind was detected in the act of making counterfeit money in, his cell. He was a professional counterfeiter, and while serving his term in eaol n e had been employed as a plumber, this gave him the opportunity to get. possession of solder, lead, silver-sand, acid, and other materials used by coiners. I Some women convicts are very clever i at making things out of hair, which they Pluck from their own heads. There is one elaborate specimen of this kind of work in the famous Black Museum at Scotland Yard. It is a pincushion containing, it is alleged, over thirty thousand separate hairs, and the female convict who made it occupied herself for several years upon the job, using not only her own hair, but begging contributions from the other women prisoners as opportunity arose Eventually she died in prison, and bequeathed this, her only belonging, fc> the gaol chaplain, who in turn presented it to the museum. An even more beautiful example of prison-made hair-work is in possession of a retired gaol governor resident in the West End of London. It is a .picture, or, rather, a series of pictures, : worked in hair on a single large square of white velvet.

Each picture constitutes . a quite easily recognisable portrait of some well-known personage, and reproductions of their autographs, also done in hair, are inset beneath. Both the portraits and the autographs were copied from an illustrated volume in _ the prison library. This _ unique work of art—for such it really isis framed in a coil of hair, and the spaces between the portraits are filled in with flowers, butterflies, and curling tendrils of various climbing plants, all worked in dark chestnut-coloured hair on the white background, the whole having an exceedingly pretty and artistic effect.