THAW'S SANITY.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIII, Issue 12628, 26 November 1908, Page 7

THAW'S SANITY.

Public opinion is heartily endorsing some of the outspoken criticisms contained in the report of the New York State Prisons Commission, referring to the privileges enjoyed by Harry Thaw, who, as the Tichborne claimant would have said, is now "languishing" in Poughkeepsie Gaol. It will be remembered that Thaw's second j UI 7 found he was insane at the time of the Stanford White murder. The Judge ordered his removal to Matteawan Criminal Asylum, and there he stayed for some months until his counsel succeeded in having him transferred to elaborate quarters in Poughkoepsie Prison, pending the result of the litigation which his lawyers were instituting to have him declared no longer a lunatic. The allusion in the Commission's report to the Thaw case is so much to the point that wo quote it in extenso : —

"Thaw's presence in Poughkeepsie Prison is embarrassing to the sheriff and objectionable on many accounts. The sheriff had not room for him except in the padded cell. The result is that the sheriff has given him an entire corridor with 13 cells adjacent in the principal gaol for men. He needs this room for his other prisoners. Thaw consumes a large amount of the time of the gaoler in escorting him to Fishkill Landing, White Plains, and other places to attend the hearings before the Court referees. There is a good deal of public talk that some of these hearings are on the 'fake' suits instituted by his friends to give him these outings. His presence there demoralises the discipline of the institution. He sleeps in the corridor, not in the cell. He has all the paraphernalia of a business office. He orders his food from a hotel, and it is brought to him three times a day. Silly people send him bouquets of flowers. He is allowed to use the whole corridor, constituting one quarter of the principal gaol for men, while the other prisoners are crowded two in a cell frequently. All these things are under the observation of the other prisoners, and create a belief that men with money constitute a separate class in the prison." •

Meanwhile Mr 3 Harry Thaw is resting in a private hospital. Her husband now announces that although they have agreed upon a separation he will supply her with financial assistance whenever she needs it, so long as she employs no lawyer to collect it. — London Telegraph.

The greatest good the suffragists are doing in their prison visitations (says the Queen) is that they are destroying the f irrevocable dishonour attached to the fact of > having been in prison. What if a man has been to prison?. His experience can be. new discussed with those of many charming, intelligent,' and exemplary ladies. They can compare psychological notes ; they can bring forward useful suggestions for reform.

' A remarkable device to hide the work of the pilferer was discovered in a case of sardines opened up by Bannatyne and Co. in Wellington (says the Times). In the centre of the case a square piece of granite padded underneath with sacking was found, which exactly fitted the vacancy caused by the removal Of two dozen half-pound tins of sardines. It was only when tfie top layers of tins were removed that the queer substitute was visible. The sardines, which came, from Spain, were shipped by the North German Lloyd boat to Sydney, and transhipped to the Union Company steamer lo?**WeHington. -Considerable ingenuity was displayed in the make-up of the peculiar substitute.

The sliark-fishingr industry, which has just been started at Parengarenga, bids fair to be a success. The -object is to secure the oil from the livers of the shark for the purpose of producing food for calves. Although a late production for the purpose, it is considered by those who have used the oil to be the best procurable for calves (says the Northern Advocate). Sharks are very numerous in the harbours of the extreme north, those caught being from 4ft to sft in length. Quite recently a tribe of natives, fishing with lines, secured in two days no fewer than 500 sharks. After the livers have been extracted from the fish the flesh is dried in the usual Maori method, and is considered a great delicacy by the nativse.

The London Shipping World, in referring to the recent shipping disaster at Christmas Island, says: — "The long delay in advising the los of the Aeon is likely to have a good effect in hastening the proposal to link up the islands in the Pacific, by wireless telegraph. The scheme at present is to connect Ocean Island and Pleasant Island, of the Gilbert Group, from which large quantities of phosphate are now shipped to Australia and Europe, with the mainland of Australia, and to gradually bring the various groups in the Pacific into connection. The suggested system will probably include 10 or 12circles, the largest having a radius of 1250 miles. Each station will require an engine of 60 horse-power."