THE LYTTELTON INFERNO.

NZ Truth, Issue 146, 4 April 1908, Page 6

THE LYTTELTON INFERNO.

An Appeal to Minister McGowan.

Some manuscript written m a pale pencil on brown paper, anent Cleary's delectable hell at Lyttelyon has passed the 'argus eye -of. the. gaoler and reached our Christchurch office. N All correspondence by the compulsory guests is rigidly censored, and if anything is written describing the true state of affairs m the brutal institution the choleric landlord' rages round the premises like a parson reproaching the women who call openly for. their beer at the pub. instead of swiping m the Secrecy of their own homes. One unfortunate wretch incarcerated (while bondsmen were being hunt.cd up, wrote to a friend, "For God's sake get me out of this before I'm eaten alive with vermin," and an enraged Cleary went off like the fusilade that wiped out the King and heir of Portugal. 'Innocent persons awaiting trial are placed m the cells delegated to the casual drunk .and unclean and diseased vagrant and the blood-thirsty animals left behind m the blankets advance upon the' enemy m battalions, so that detention m the filthy enclosures is one long sleepless campaign against the pilgrims of the night. An individual who spoke to a "Truth" rep. on the subject, had never seen body lice.un.til he entered the local inferno, and, stripping to the buff, he disclosed' a skin spotted like that bf a person with the measles or scarlet fever, orsomething. . Cleary wouldn't allow this insulting remark to issue forth m a letter, and 'he subjected the. impertinent prisoner to a severe .tinvesti- • gation. Agitated warders searched, the beddinqr. but declared they could find nothing, and the victim was told that any close companions that might be about must have been brought m by himself. He was then thrust into prison garb, and his own clothes were SOUSED IN SHEEP DIP, ; the aroma of which will hang round the garments until they drop to pieces from old age. The cooking utensils m the gaol are horrible m their uncleanliness. It is tfcue th« outsides arc polished to such an' ex-. . tent that a mob could shave itself with the aid of their mirror-like surfaces, but their internal condition would make the average person vomit at forty yards. The grease • and filth and tannin, of countless, meais has encrusted the interior, forming strata of various ages, the geological formation of which would make an interesting study. It is not astonishing that the inmates frequently complain of feeling unwell— every new prisoner passes through a violent attack of colic unless his system is hardened fromi familiarity with the loathsomeness, and have to place themselves under the ungentle treatment of Sawbones Newall. Judging by results, Newall would have done better had he, like the Tichboume claimant, followed his father's occupation of butcher. After all, there is' hereditary instinct that clings to the knife m both generations. Whether the complaint be bronchitis or secondary symptoms of syphilis, the treatment appears, to the lay mind, to be the same, namely, take the man's clothes away ,from him, feed him on half rations, don't give Mm any books to read, and • keep him locked up m his call until better— or worse. An old man of sixty-five, suffering from a tunning sore on the shin was. given i this treatment. A person dumped* into gaol as' like a Uumb beast, at the mercy of his gaolers ; he has ri6 appeal and no hope, and can , only trust to the MICROSCOPIC HUMANITY OF THOSE BRUTES (who are placed over him and permit him to retain such interest m life to prevent him wishing daily tnat he" was dead. "Brutes" is said : advis r edly, for it is the brutal characteristics m a man which inspire him to seek a brutal occupation, and if there is any calling more awful than that of boss or attendant- m the Lyttelton Inferno, this paper would have to seargh hell to find it, and owing to the absence 6t return tickets, is reluctantly compelled to decline the job. In the name bf common humanity, McG-owan, v drag a stray moment from your Ministerial duties and look seriously m the direction of Lyttelton Gaol. , -