July 16, 1896.]
rattan on a Chinaman may not in some cases be more far reaching than the purely punitive *effect striven after.
(ix.) It follows from dur views as to the arming of the Superintendent with independent flogging powers that we are a fortiori, in favour of the maintenance of flogging to be inflicted by order of the Superintendent and a Visiting Justice; but in this connection we think that, if the rattan is retained, the maximum number of strokes to be inflicted at one time should not exceed twenty in any case, and we are further strongly of opinion that a system of fewer strokes more frequently Imposed would prove a greater deterrent than the present system. If this view be adopted it would be necessary to amend the law conferring on Judges and Magistrates the power of ordering corporal punishment.
(x.) We see no reason why it should not be made a duty of the Superintendent to attend in person at all floggings, as it is the duty of the Governor of an English gaol to do. *
(xi.) The Committee recommend that pro vision should be made for retaining in hospital until his wounds are healed any prisoner laid up in consequence of a flogging whose time for discharge from gaol falls due before he is fit to be discharged from hospital; such retention should be optional with a prisoner and in the discretion of the Medical Officer.
(xii.) The Committee fear that the unique consequences of the juxtaposition of this polony to the mainland of China and the orovince of Kwang Tung are not always pre- sent to the minds of those responsible for regulating the criminal population in our midst.
One consequence alluded to is this, that: Hongkong is the resort of Chinese fleeing from justice as administered in China-the authors of piracies and armed robberies who do not scruple to repeat their crimes within British jurisdiction and constitute a leaven full of active permeating evil qualities. If to this is added the presence of numerous clans speaking different dialects and ready to defend an injury to one of their numbers by armed force, it is palpable that there are elements of danger and disorder rife in this colony which are probably without parallel elsewhere. Suppose that Eng- land herself were on the very borders of a country unable to control its wilder spirits and inhabited by segregated clans of varying forms of speech, and that her population consisted for the most part of an overflow of the people from the adjoining country, the regulation and punish. ment of such alien incursionists would take some abnormal form. And if the imprisoned portion of this alien body had been convicted of offences attended with violence, or, when in gaol, refused obedience to the regulations in
tended to make their incarceration a deterrent from crime, we venture to say that there would be no hesitation in resorting to the only form of punishment, viz., flogging, which would be efficacious, and that the power of ordering this punishment would be entrusted to a limited extent to the head officer when he is made responsible for the maintenance of strict disci- pline, when swift punishment is the most re- spected, and when the invocation of other counsels is for certain reasons a hardship on the consulted,
We press upon the Government our views in this regard, and trust that no action will be taken to introduce here a system pre- valent elsewhere simply because this is a British colony and without very careful regard to the local circumstances of the colony.
SUGGESTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS.
To sum up, the Committee are of opinion (i.) That the hospital accommodation is grossly inadequate, that the hospital attendants are not suited by training for their duties, and that their hours of duty are excessive;
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
or the birch should,"with the sanction of the Medical Officer, be used in any given case;
(iv.) That the number of strokes with a rattan should not exceed twenty at one time in any case;
(v.) That a system which would admit of the ordering of more floggings and fewer strokes is preferable to the present system, which admits in most cases-of only one flogging with a large number of strokes;
(xxiii.) That it is advisable that the evidence in all cases of inquiry preceding the infliction of any punishment or at least in cases in whichf the Superintendent, either by himself or in con- junction with a Justice of the Peace, orders fogging, should be taken on oath and in writ- ing, and kept on record;
(xxiv.) That the absence, so far as is known, of any protest by the Visiting Justices against. either the power of the Superintendent for of (vi.) That in particular the Superintendent the Superintendent and a Justice of the Peace in conjunétion with a Visiting Justice should to order floggings, or the mode in which that have power in aggravated cases to order two power is exercised, indicates that the system in floggings of, say, fifteen strokes each as a maxi-vogue, if not directly approbated, has not been mum with an interval of not less than a reprobated by the Visiting Justices; lunar month between each flogging;
(vii.) That definite intervals should be fixed which must elapse before one flogging may follow upon another flogging, e.g. :—
First flogging.
Interval.
6 strokes. 12 strokes.
Sto.
10 days、 21 days.
&o.:
with liberty to the Medical Officer to extend the interval if necessary;
·
(viii.) That prisoners sentenced by Judges and Magistrates to be flogged at the end of their term of imprisonment should receive their punishment not later than twenty-one days prior to the date of their discharge from gaol;
(ix.) That all floggings are administered only after proper medical examination and certifica- tion of fitness; are inflicted by authorised in struments and in every other way in accordance with the Gaol regulations;
(x.) That prisoners receive due attention from the Medical Officer after a flogging;
(xi) That the death of prisoner No. 704 within eight days after receiving the second fogging, though greatly to be deplored, was not directly due to the flogging he received, but was probably due to causes over which, under existing arrangements, the Medical Officer had no control;
(xii.) That the blood poisoning which caused the death of prisoner No. 704 might have been the result of the absorption of germs whilst under treatment in the overcrowded and cramped hospital;
3.1
(IV.) That this acquiescence on the part of the Unofficial Visiting Justices indicates that the leading business men in the colony are not opposed to the continuance of the present methods;
(xxvi.) That there is nothing in the physique of an ordinary Chinaman to unfit him to bear a flogging;
(xxvii.) That this conclusion is strengthened by the fact that castigation in severer forms, viz., by the use of a bamboo and of a wooden stick, is commonly practised on the mainland of China;
(xxviii.) That the number of floggings is no indication of an unusual exercise by the Super- intendent of his power to flog, but rather points to the frequent unruly behaviour of the pri soners and is a reason for preserving to the Superintendent his present power;
(xxix.) That the proportion of floggings to prisoners in gaol, which for the past ten years has varied from 1 in 25 to 1 in 10 shows that the number of floggings is relatively small and that the number of prisoners flogged is rela tively still smaller if it be recollected that it often occurs that the same prisoner is flogged
· more than once;
(xxx.) That the abnormal ratio of 1 in 10 attained in 1895 is shown by Mr. Thomson's evidence to have been due to an abnormal state of things;
(xxxi.) That the occurrence of such a state of things and the possibility of its recurrence strengthen the plea that it would be unwise to divest the Superintendent of his present summary powers of ordering a flogging;
(xiii) That this case, being the first fatal case within living memory, goes establish the conclusion that flogging with t rattan is
(xxxii.) That the worse behaviour of Chinese not a punishment. peculiarly perilous in its in-prisoners here compared with the behaviour of fliction on Chinese;
prisoners in English gaols ás testified to by Mr. Craig, Chief Warden, who has had ex perience of both classes of prisoners, accounts for any difference in the ratio that may exist in the case of Home prisons and in the case of the local prison;
(xiv.) That in the case of prisoner No. 528, there is sufficient ground for concluding that the aggravated state of his wounds might have been caused to some extent by his own conduct after his discharge from gaol, and no sufficient ground for concluding that it was solely due to the manner in which he was flogged; nor do we think that the flogging-even if it did pro- duce such results-must of necessity have been a brutal flogging;
(xv.) That the formation of gluteal abscesses is a rare exception and a mere accident, not a necessary consequence, of a flogging;
(xvi.) That the rules and regulations govern- ing prison offences and punishments require to be re-drafted;
(xvii.) That any misinterpretation of these rules and regulations that may have occurred is due to the difficulty attendant on the con- struing of them;
(xviii.) That this misinterpretation, if any, has not been confined to the Superintendent, but has been shared in by the majority of the Visiting Justices;
xix.) That for any such misinterpretation, no blame attaches to either the Superintendent pr the Visiting Justices;
(xx.) That a flogged prisoner whose wounds are unhealed at the date of his discharge from gaol should have the option of remaining in the Gaol hospital or of being treated in the Government Civil Hospital;
(ii) That flogging in the gaol should under no pretence be dispensed with, and that, in (xxi.) That the latter alternative is the pre- particular, the withdrawal from the Super-ferable one, because it will relieve the congested intendent of his present power of ordering corporal punishment is to be strongly depre- cated;
(iii.) That a birch might be substituted for the rattan in the case of floggings ordered by the Superintendent, but that the rattan should not be abolished in other cases, it being left to the discretion of the Judges, Magistrates, and the Superintendent acting in concert with a Visiting Justice, to decide whether the rattan'
state of the Gaol hospital;
(xxii.) That prisoners sentenced for felony and for the graver, misdemeanours such as perjury, certain assaults, false pretences, etc., to a term of imprisonment exceeding six months, should be liable to have their queues cut off for repeated offences in gaol, provided that no queue shall be out off within the three months next preceding, the date of discharge from gaol;
(xxxiii.) That the treadmill as already pro vided for in the rules should be resorted to as a form of hard labour;
(xxxiv.) That a fresh rattan should be used at every flogging;
(XXIV.) That the Magistrates should have ex- tended powers of ordering floggings up to twelve strokes, in lieu of other forms of punishment, in cases of larceny, assaults, riotous and dis orderly conduct, etc., etc.
RESERVATIONS BY DR. ATKINSON.
1.-Referring to paragraph 7, sub-section ix and paragraph 8, sub-sections iv. and vi, I am of opinion that no flogging should exceed six strokes at any one time. My reason for this is that a greater number is liable to seriously in. jure the prisoner and incapacitate him from working for a lengthened period, whilst if only six strokes are administered at one time no serious injury can accrue under ordinary oir cumstances and the culprit will be able to resume“ the ordinary prison labour within a day or so of their administration.
2.I am of opinion that paragraph 8, sub- section vii., should be omitted altogether, as it is within the province of the Surgeon to the Gaol to determine when a prisoner is in a fit: state to receive a second floggingARN
3.-I am also of opinion that paragraph 8. sub-section ziv., should be amended as follows "That in the case of prisoner No. 528
sufficient ground for concludin aggravated state of his wounds been caused to some extent actions after his discharge fro no sufficient ground for concludi was solely due to the manner in whic was flogged."