It has taken some time to go through the Report which accompanies the Regulations. I shall assume that these Regulations have not yet been promulgated and that it is therefore open to me to comment on them fully with a view to their amendment before promulgation.
3. But first with regard to the Report of the Commission itself, I have to observe that while I agree in the view that the dietary has hitherto been excessive, experience leads me to caution in adopting reductions in face of adverse professional opinion. The fact that the diet of a prisoner is better than that of a free man is not necessarily conclusive proof that it is excessive.
The diet of the hard labour prisoner may be more than is strictly necessary to sustain itself, as the human frame may be able to sustain itself on less food where the man is free, than in the depressing circumstances of imprisonment. A government incurs a grave and unusual responsibility...
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