Regulation of the Victoria Gaol.
2. My Lordship points out that some of the regulations are wholly illegal, and others are at variance with instructions from the Colonial Office.
3. In the enclosed extract from the Minutes of my conversation with the Committee of the 23rd of May, Your Lordship will see my reference to the regulations in question. On that occasion, I explained to the Committee that those regulations were opposed to Your Lordship's instructions, particularly with reference to the rule for cropping women's hair as a personal punishment. I mentioned that I had called for the particular despatch of the 22nd of April 1876, and after reading it to the Acting Superintendent of the Gaol, had on the 19th of May struck out the rule in the printed regulations I found in the prison office.
4. The despatches I had written before receiving Your Lordship's despatches No. 33, dated 13th June, and No. 34, dated 14th June, and No. 35, dated 15th June, are under reply. Your Lordship will see that the evils associated with and the defects of the Victoria Prison system had already engaged my attention.
I have the honour to be,
My Lord,
Your Lordship's most obedient,
humble servant,
John Pope Hennessy
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