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there would be every hope that a large precentage of convicts would by these means be reclaimed from a life of crime. As it is, we can barely employ at and train to trades about one hundred Prisoners.
10. In short the Victoria Gaol is unsuited to the demands of modern civilization, or even buma- nity; for it seems hardly humane to fail in adopting those measures which experience has shown to operate as deterrents to criminals and as encouragements to reform of life; it seems hardly humane to continue a Prison system in which the enforced association of criminals is well known as tending to make the better class bad and the bad worse.
PRISONERS AND THEIR DISCIPLINE.
11. After a short experience of eight months in charge of this Gaol, I venture to hazard an opinion that the Chinese convicts under my charge are as amenable to discipline, and disposed to be as well conducted, as those of any race I am acquanted #ith. This view, I must admit is in appearance not supported by the statistics given in the Annual Return. It will be observed that in the year 1884, with a daily average number of 552 Prisoners, 4,784 Prison offences were reported. In 1885 with an average of 530 Prisoners 6,473 Prison offences were reported; giving an average of 12 Prison offences a year for each Prisoner; nor was the great bulk of these offences committed by a small number of habitual offenders, as is the case in England, where only about half the number of Prisoners are annually punished for Prison offences. On the last day of the year it was found that there were only 78 Pri- soners in Gaol who had been free of punishment for three months. If we compare this with the statistics of English Prisons, where in 1880-81 with an average number of 10,297 Prisoners, only 5,861 Prisoners were punished, committing 18,003 offences or less than two per annum per Prisoner confined, we can hardly fail to draw the conclusion that the convicts of Hongkong are a peculiarly turbulent and insubordinate class. But this conclusion would be erroneous.
The large number of Prison offences in Victoria Gaol appear to be due to special conditions, the chief of which are:—
1. The enforced association and crowding together of the Prisoners at night, for want of
separate sleeping cells for each Prisoner.
2. The enforced crowding together of Prisoners by day, when at work and at meals, for want
of space in the workshops and yards.
3. The want of training and general inefficiency of a number of the Turnkeys, whose igno- rance, misconduct and want of judgment have been the cause of much avoidable Prison crime.
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12. An explanation will naturally be expected of the large increase of Prison offences in 1885 as compared with 1884 from 4,784 to 6,473 or over 30 per cent. The number of Prison offences reported during the past year have actually decreased all round with the exception of two kinds, viz. “talking, and "task of oakum short picked." The explanation of the increase in these two offences is as follows. On taking charge of the Prison I found that the Regulation requiring silence to be maintained was not strictly enforced, only very noisy talkers at work being reported. In fact after the Prisoners were locked up for the night, the buz of conversation from the associated wards was perfectly audible in the neighbouring streets. I enforced the Regulation, detailing for some time extra Turnkeys on night duty to enforce silence. This raised the number of reports for "talking" from 519 in 1884 to 2,132 in 1885, a number which more than accounts for the total increase of reports in the year. I append a tabulated statement (4) showing the monthly offences under this head during the last two years. It is curious to note that silence appears more difficult to the Prisoners in the summer months.-During 1885 there were reported 945 offences for short oakum picked and petty oakum thefts; the Prisoners, crowded together in the working yard, frequently stealing each others picked oakum. No offences were recorded under this head in 1884. The practice had been for the officer charged with weighing the oakum to report deficiencies on a separate paper and these offences and their punishments were not recorded in the offence book. As these papers were not preserved, I am unable to make comparisons with the previous year. The practice appeared to me to be irregular. I directed all these offences to be entered in the offence book, thus increasing the offences by 945. The offences under these two heads account for nearly half the Prison offences of the year 1885 and for more than double the increase over previous year.
13. The remaining Prison offences consist of assaults and acts of insubordination, idleness and refusing to work, having tobacco or opium, quarrelling and fighting, stealing food, disorderly conduct and other miscellaneous offences. In all these there has, as compared with the previous year,
been a diminution in 1885. The number however is a very large as compared with English Prisons, owing chiefly to the great opportunities and temptations of imprisonment in association.
14.
During the year 11 cases of insubordination towards and assaults on officers of the Gaol, were tried by the Superintendent and a visiting Justice. Of these cases 8 offenders were awarded corporal punishinent, and 3 solitary confinement.