THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 19TH OCTOBER, 1878. 497
8. I am aware that the difference of levels may perhaps render it impracticable to carry out either of these schemes, except at a cost which would be prohibitory when added to the compensation payable to the lessees: but I think it right that every possible course should be considered before arriving at a definite conclusion. Either plan would have the advantage of securing the continued protection afforded by the proximity of the Police Barrack; but on the other hand would be open to the objection that such an extension would permanently fix the Gaol in the heart of a very populous quarter of the City.
9. As regards the ground occupied by the present temporary Hospital, it would apparently be necessary to bring the Police Barrack forward to the Street, so as to leave room for a new prison block where the Barrack now stands; and I should add that I am doubtful whether this locality would admit of the Police Courts being also placed there, or whether it would not be necessary to look for a site elsewhere.
10. If either of these plans were adopted, advantage should be taken of the opportunity of. increasing the accommodation to improve as much as possible the existing prison. The enlargement of the airing grounds by the removal of the radiating blocks, and the erection of a separate Hospital, are among the improvements which seem most imperatively called for.
11. The only alternative to these extensions being apparently the construction of an entirely new prison, the question of site remains to be considered: and it will be necessary to weigh the relative merits of all available spots, including Stone Cutters' Island, and any vacant Crown Lands within reasonable distance of the town:--or on the face of the hill above the houses.
12. In many respects I am of opinion that the erection of a new prison on a new site will be found to be the best solution of the question, but the expense which it would involve would doubtless be very great, and it will be for you to inquire carefully into the financial conditions of the various schemes which I have suggested. The main elements for consideration appear to be roughly, on the one hand, the cost of acquiring additional land in the vicinity of the present site and of converting the present buildings and erecting those which will be required in addition; and on the other hand, the cost of a new site and the cost of a new prison; against which should be set the amount that would be derived form the sale of the present site and buildings. I need scarcely say that in the event of its being decided to erect a wholly new Gaol, it would be undesirable to spend money on enlarging or converting the present building.
13. In the foregoing remarks it has been my object to set before you what I conceive are the chief elements of the question for consideration, and before I arrive at a final decision on a matter in which the assistant specific local knowledge is so material, I shall be happy to receive from you a tive cost of the several proposals, and upon the sites which seem to you suitable
a furthe
you may desire to offer after consulting
report upon the
for a new Gadt
Mr. PRICE.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient humble Servant,
Governor HENNESSY, C. M. G.,
&c., &c., &e.
M. HICKS-BEACH.
[No. 96.]
*
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 3rd October, 1878.
SIR,-In Despatch No. 103 of the 22nd of August, 1877, the EARL OF CARNARVON expresses the opinion that Sir ARTHUR KENNEDY, (in a Despatch he wrote a few months before he left Hongkong), had good reason, in the absence of any other apparent cause, for connecting the increase of crime in the Colony with the cheap fares from Canton. His Lordship, however, was good enough to add, "It is true, however, that as pointed out in your Despatch No. 43 of 22nd June, 1877, the increasing "number of recommittals and of convictions generally may be to some extent accounted for by defects "in the prison system as especially by the fact of the discipline of the Gaol not being sufficiently severe "to act as a deterrent.”
66
Hong-
2. Next to the serious evils of the associated system, one of the gravest defects I fo kong Gaol was the excessive amount of food given to the Chinese prisoners. The enclosed extracts from minutes of various meetings of the Executive Council contain a record of my views and proceed- ings on the important question of the prison dietary not being in my opinion sufficiently deterrent.
3. The Regulations on this subject of the Gaol Commission that had been presided over by Mr. SNOWDEN had been adopted and promulgated a short time before my arrival; and Sir ARTHUR KENNEDY, on the eve of his departure, had expressed to Lord CARNARVON, (Despatch No. 40, 28th February, 1877), the opinion that the dietary scale of Victoria Gaol had at length been satisfactorily settled, and finally adopted by the Executive.