539
have been discharged from gaol, It is therefore a great step gained if natural aspiration for liberty induces Chinese convict to accept a pardon
on the
I
as
the conditions provided for by Section of this Ordinance,
be thereby subjects himself to the penalty which
as a
Chinaman he most dreads, should
he violate that condition, and to
comparatively certain recognition.
A general opinion obtains now, and no doubt justly that the abandonment
in
187% of the plan adopted by Sir R. G. MacDonnell, of entering into agreement with convicted prisoners
in
very
much the same terms as
those contained in Section I of the
Ordinance, conduced in a marked
degree to the
great increase
of crime which ensued. Experience has therefore shown the utility of exceptional legislation
on the subject. Imprisonment with hard labour, if he is well fed and cared for in gaol possesses for or no terror for the Chinese Criminal. Upon his release he has no motive
moral or otherwise to deter him
from qualifying himself for readmission to gaol,
and he will infest the colony, committing daily and nightly depredations until he is again convicted and imprisoned. Branding drives
him to the mainland, to the village to which he belongs and there is