OSCAR WILDE'S PRISON LIFE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 10348, 2 July 1895, Page 2

OSCAR WILDE'S PRISON LIFE.

Some particulars of Oscar Wilde's prison life are given by a London Paper ;— During the first month on the wheel, if put there, Wilde will slodp on a plank bed, a bare board raised a few inohes above the floor, and supplied with sheets. Clean sheets are given to etch prisoner, two rugs, and coverlet, but no mattress. His diet will bo : —Breakfast at halfpast seven a.m., cocoa and bread ; dinner at nopn, bacon and beans one day soup another, cold Australian meat another, and b,rown flour suet pudding another, the last three being repeated twice a week/potatoes with every diuner. After he ha* finished his spell on the wheel he will be put to some industrial employ-mont-i-not play-writing, although it might be the most profitable to tho prison department - but probably postbag making, tailoring, or merely picking oakum. He will exercise in the openair daily for an hour, walking with tho rest of his ward in Indian file, no talking permitted. He will be allowed no communication, with the outside, except by special permission, until he has completed, three months of his sentence Then ho may writs and receive one letter and be visited for 20 minutes by three friends, but in a visiting cell, separated from them by wire blinds and in the presence of a warder. Tho letter and visit may be repeated at intervals of three months, but all these concessions j depend first, upon his industry, and next upon his «onduct. There is no escape from the plank bed until a certain number of marks are awarded for work done, and in the same way letters and visits are accorded, . On his release, Wilde, if ho has worked well, will havo earnod the magnificent sum of ten shillings, which will be paid to him by an ngeut of tho Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society.

Mr K. S. Brookfield, of tho Bank of New Zealand, loft Hamilton on Saturday laßt for Auckland, where ho has boon appointed to tho position of accountant. Hi» many friends here will bo glad to hero of his promotion.