56
and the correspondence which has passed between the Government of this Colony on the subject of Colonial Office Corporal Punishment which appeared to me to be necessary to be referred to in connection with the reference to the suggestions made by the Acting Chief Justice in his letter to you.
Respectfully, I concur with the Acting Chief Justice in thinking that the necessity exists for the further security of persons in custody from personal violence accompanying robberies from the person and that as an experiment and probable means of rendering such robberies less frequent, the Court should have power to direct the infliction of Corporal punishment in addition to the imprisonment now sanctioned by Law.
The evil is very great, for the present punishment is not sufficiently preventive. It appears to me that among the Chinese, where corporal punishment is most inflicted, it is almost a measure of necessity here. I notice that His Grace the Colonial Secretary, in his Despatch No. 82 of 20th June 1862, expresses his sentiments: "The crimes for which corporal punishment may be inflicted...