PRISON STORIES

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10541, 18 March 1920, Page 5

PRISON STORIES

HOW MEN MAKE GOOD FROM THE GAOL TO THE UNI- " VERSITY. Some interesting stories of hnw discharged prisoners ''make good'' and tho valuable services rendered in this connection by the "Wellington Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society are related by Mr E. Arnold, visiting Justice to His iuajesty's tor many years; — SAILORS AND FIREMEN.

If tho reader enue paired through a prison and could see the inmu.ee:>- in uio separate yards he would notice mat there aie yards lor men of diriercnt lengths of sentences — tor those in lor a lew days, others in for many years, and some lor life; some going in, others leaving; some hear the great bolts fly for incarceration, others see the door swing open, nnd they stop out. into liberty again, some without relations or friends. This being a shipping port, there are sailors and firemen —brave men, "they go down to the sea in ships and do business in. greaifc waters"; thev toil in the .stokehold when the sea ia> raging and passengers have to hold en in their beds. "When theso sous of the sea get into harbour, are they not likely to seek some excitement, and sometimes forget themselves and are sent to prison? When they come out—their ships gone, no home, and no money. So this society gives them a helping hand —■ sometimes pay their train fares tip tlm country, for sailors and firemen will work at any kind of work; they are not idle men. AFTER TEN YEARS GAOL.

Hero is ono I- will mention. Ho had just finished a ten yeor.s' sentence. .1 saw him in the prison a few weeks before his time was up. He was much troubled, for he felt ho would not be able to take care of himself. But 1 gat him a job so that he should have work to go to. I met him at the, prison doqr when he came out. Ho said, "Am I really free?" "Yes," I said. "And have I got to keep myself—buy my own clothes?" "Yes." "Well, it eeems strange; then the gaoler has nothing more to do with me?" "No: you are now a free man." He stood and looked around. "Well,'' ho said, ''may I seo you often?" "Oh, yes, John." I introduced him that day to his new employer. Then !ie said: "I left the Old Land when I came to New Zealand. My mother ana father were then alive, but old. I wonder if they are dead. I never wrote to them while in prison; I did not want them to know where I was. The gailor gave me five pound* whon'l came out this morning. T would like to send them half of it.'" T said. ''You. want clothes; J keep it.", ''No," he said, "my mother and father aTe old and poor, and they shall havo half." And I put him in the way of sending it. He wfint to hi* work, and in timo go't married and went into busPRISON—OR SHIP'S BRIDGE? Here axe two joung fellows, not out of their 'teens. Tiiey proke into an 01fice in Wellington; they" vvero caught and committed for trial. I saw them ni prison awaiting trial. They were both 'runaway young' sailors. They asJsa,! me to iielp them; 'they said they would like to get away to sea. .When the trial came on I spoke for them. I told Sir Robert Stout I had a ship for, them. He said if they went at once he would let them go. One refused to go because he would only get one shilling per month. It was a full-rigged ship going to London. One of the young fellows went, and the one that declined to go was sent to prison, and since then has douo many years in New Zealand prisons. The- one that did go rose to be an officer on a steamship; and here is the difference in two young fellows, both having had the same opportunity in life. It was about fourteen years ago that another young man in the prison asked for help. He said he had no money ! and no relations in New Zealand. 1 told him to call on me when he came out. This he did, an-d in time he was sent away. Five years after he called and gave fiv© pounds towards ithis so- 1 ciety. He has given ono pound each year since. FRO3I' GAOL TO UNIVERSITY. Another young man stole some plated ware from a warehouse where he was engaged. He was put on probation for 4 years. He went* up country and lived in a .whare. He was well educated, and his whare became his library. In time ho left New Zealand, went to a university, passed all h'S examinations, and "became a teacher in the same university. Here is a young man who has done time in our prison. He called on me. I gave him a helping hand when ho came out. He got work, was very steady, took great care of his money. He married a woman of good business ability. She went to work in a shop, and in two or thre years they had quite a nice Ht of money saved up: so they opened a "mail store out of town. ' The husband was a shepherd, and his wife ran the store. The husband did not, like David of old, become a king, but this day he has a small shfep farm and is in every way successful.