THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 22nd SEPTEMBER, 1877. 417
locked harbour like that of Victoria. I have always had the opinion that the plan submitted by myself was fully sufficient to withstand the seas of typhoons, and the proof is that a few sections I built in 1874, and which the Commission that inquired into the matter saw, have proved fully efficient. There they stand, and similar works by my predecessor also stood the typhoon of 1874. Therefore, I do not see that our design can be improved upon, and I have no doubt, when this information r the Secretary of State for the Colonies, His Lordship will give his consent to the
design as ame
Hon. 11. Lʊ„COOK thanked His Excellency and the Surveyor-General for the explanation. The Council was then adjourned sine die.
THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS WERE AMONGST THOSE LAID BEFORE THE
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ON THE 17TH INSTANT.
The Right Honourable the Earl of Carnarvon to Ilis Excellency Governor Pope Hennessy.
DOWNING STREET,
20th June, 1877.
SIR, I have to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. AUSTIN'S despatch No. 75 of the 11th of April, respecting certain matters of Prison Discipline.
I rely on you to review the whole question of Prison Discipline in Hongkong; and to make such proposals as will place the system upon a sound basis for the future.
In the letter from the Acting Colonial Secretary, which forms the enclosure to Mr. AUSTIN'S despatch, I observe lirection that the practice is to be discontinued of Turnkeys employing prisoners to cook their meals or them and act as their body servants "when their quarters are so situated as to "necessitate the pri oners passing outside of the office gates whereby they are enabled to communicate "with the outside world."
I do not know whether any Turnkeys have their quarters within the office gates. If there are any such, then under this letter they may continue to employ prisoners as their cooks and body servants. I consider that they should not be in any better position than those residing beyond the office gates, and should provide for their wants at their own expense.
If your experience of climate suggests that it would be expedient to provide them with this assistance from public sources, the boon should be applied equally to Turnkeys residing beyond the office gates, and in some form less objectionable on grounds of discipline than prison labour..
I have, &c.,
(Signed)
CARNARVON.
His Excellency Governor Pope Hennessy to The Right Honourable the Earl of Carnarvon.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 2nd August, 1877.
MY LORD, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the despatch No. 72 of the 20th of June, in which your Lordship instructs me to review the whole question of Prison Discipline in Hongkong, and to make such proposals as will place the system upon a sound basis for the future.
Your Lordship will have seen from the despatches noted in the margin, and which crossed the despatch now under reply, that I had already given some attention to the subject.
No. 33, 13th June, 1877.
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34, 14th June,
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35, 15th June,
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33
38, 15th June,
77
41, 22nd June,
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43, 22nd June,
"2
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44, 23rd June,
37
,, 55, 6th July,
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58, 6th July,
22
55
60, 12th July,
22
33
61, 18th July,
64, 18th July,
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65, 19th July,
73, 28th July,
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In one of his despatches, written in the month of September last year, Sir ARTHUR KENNEDY referred to the "serious increase of crime in Hongkong," which, he said, would be indicated in various returns that might have hereafter to be laid before your Lordship. Soon after my arrival in the Colony, in April last, the duty of transmitting the returns in question-that is, the Police returns, the Gaol statistics, and the statistics of crime for 1876-devolved upon me.
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