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14. After having carefully considered the subject submitted to them, they beg to report, that the Gaol is at present overcrowded.
15. That as a temporary measure to relieve in part this overcrowding they suggest that,
(a.) Early arrangements be made with the West End Reformatory to receive
all the Juvenile Offenders.
(b.) That and enquiry be instituted into the cases of the 39 prisoners sentenced for gambling and that such as are not gambling house owners, or keepers, shroffs or watchmen, be forthwith liberated.
(c.) That an enquiry be made into the cases of the 46 men committed in default of finding security and that the least aggravated cases be forth- with liberated.
16. With respect to the future the Commission are of opinion, that it is most undesirable in the present state of the finances of the Colony and with such heavy expenditure in view as the Fortifications, completion of Tytam Water-works, Victoria College, and Sanitary works will entail, to embark on such a large and expensive work as the erection of a New Gaol unless the necessity of it has been fully demonstrated; and the Commission are of opinion that such a step should not be taken until other measures have been tried.
17. Respecting those other measures the Commission are unanimously of opinion that the present system of imprisonment is altogether inadequate as a means of punish-
ment.
18. They would again strongly urge on His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government the facts:-
1o. That in Hongkong we are exposed to the depredations and incursions of numbers of the criminal classes of the two Kwang provinces including the large city of Canton.
2o. That short terms of imprisonment are no punishment at all for the
ordinary Chinese.
3o. That some other kind of punishment is urgently required for cases of
petty larceny and for the offence of returning from banishment.
19. That they are unanimously of opinion that Solitary confinement by itself would not meet the evils complained of: wherefore they recommend that whipping be allowed as recommended by Mr. WISE, for all cases of petty theft and for returning from banishment.
20. At present the only punishment for returning from banishment is one year's imprisonment and the Committee have good reason for believing that such a punish- ment is not sufficient and does not prevent many from returning.
21. That the scale of diet be reduced as recommended by the Sub-Committee.
22. That if these suggestions be carried out the Commission are of opinion that the numbers in the Gaol would almost immediately be considerably reduced, as not only would there be a very sensible reduction in the offenders sentenced to short periods of imprisonment, but those of the long sentenced convicts who have not been guilty of any serious crime might receive conditional pardon and be banished.
23. Space would thus be obtained to adapt gradually nearly the whole of the present Gaol to the separate system, which should be carried out as soon as possible.
24. The present Gaol would then be sufficient for all ordinary wants, and the measures which they suggest would give within a very short period the relief so much needed, whereas if the alternative measure viz.: the building of a new Gaol be resolved on it would take at least two or three years to build and in the meantime the present state of things would continue.
25. Moreover the Commission are unanimously of opinion that even if there was ample accommodation in the Gaol the Punishment of whipping should be introduced for the offences above mentioned. They feel very strongly that in presence of the peculiar circumstances existing in Hongkong stringent measures are necessary to meet the exceptional dangers and evils to which the Colony is exposed.