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Acting Superintendent at once recommended me to appoint to the vacant post a European who had had no experience whatever of prison duties, and who, I ascertained to be a drunken loafer of bad character.
5.
Another reason for the demoralization of the prison staff is perhaps to be found in the remarkable statements of the Gaol Committee to which I have drawn Your Lordship's attention more than once, to the effect that any attempt to reform Chinese prisoners in Hongkong should be regarded as hopeless, because the Gaol Officials were ignorant of the language, disposition and character of the Chinese.
6.
It is not improbable that a prison system which deliberately excluded all idea of a reformatory or humanising element may have reacted almost as injuriously on the prison staff as on the criminals. Possibly also the excessive frequency of Corporal punishment, which the Gaol staff not only witnessed but had to administer, may have somewhat blunted their natural feelings and induced them to regard somewhat lightly mere acts
7.