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A-Yes and more, the birch is not severe punishment. Q-Is the "cat" much more severe than the rattan? A-Oh yes, much more severe than a rattan. The * buttocks.
Q-I mean on the buttocks ?
Never heard of it.
3
cat was never given on the
A-The "cat on the buttocks?
It would wind all round and give a lot of trouble I expect. A "cat" would cause much more severe wounds on the buttocks than a rattan.
Q-They flog boys in the Navy on the buttocks with a "cat"?
A-That may be. I do not know what kind of "cat" they use nowadays. The 64 cat we had in the Gaol was made by an old naval man-and whether it was done out of a joke I do not know, but when the Commission came to examine it, there were Naval and Army Officers there and they said "This would lick any Army or Navy 'cat' into fits." It was a wonderfully made "cat," and it was made by a former naval prisoner who had evidently put his soul into it.
THE CHAIRMAN-It was a highly scientific cat?"
WITNESS--It was so.
Dr. ATKINSON- You say you have had experience of the use of the "cat" on Chinese: WITNESS-Yes.
Q-On the back?
A-Yes.
Q--Were any abscesses produced?.
A--We had them suffering from sores.
Q--No abscesses?
A--No abscesses.
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Q--Do you know of any fatal result following the use of the cat" on Chinese?
A-Inflammation of the lungs came afterwards-pneumonia, and I have seen at least half a dozen fellows dying from pneumonic phthisis, and their backs were scarred all over; they showed no signs of disease before they were flogged.
Q--Have you known any fatal result follow the use of the rattan?
A-I have known none before the recent case.
Q-Do you think abscesses ought to follow the infliction of twelve strokes with a
rattan
?
A-I have never seen abscesses except from twenty to thirty strokes.
Q-Have you ever seen Europeans flogged in the Gaol?
A-I have never seen a European flogged with a rattan but I have with a cat.
Q-It is the custom for the Chinese inmates to lie on the floor of the Gaol
Hospital?
A-Yes.
Q-Do you not think that septicemia might be introduced by a Chinaman with a sore-an open wound-lying on the floor in a crowded room?
It is quite possible. It is not We have to put two Europeans
A-If he is mixed up with other cases of injury. like lying in beds, and there is no room for any beds. in one of these rooms, and then the windows and doors and everything else are kept open.
Q- You have known a prisoner faint under a flogging with a rattan?