230
closing Chancery Lane, or making a covered passage between the existing Gaol and the new site), or to resume the houses now occupied for the Civil Hospital and the other premises which are bounded by the Old Bailey.
8. I am aware that the difference of levels may perhaps render it impracticable to carry either of these schemes, except at a cost which would be prohibitory when added to the compensation payable to the lessees: but I think it right that every possible course should be considered before arriving at a definite conclusion. Either plan would have the advantage of securing the continued protection afforded by the proximity of the Police Barrack; but on the other hand would be open to the objection that such an extension would permanently fix the Gaol in the heart of a very populous quarter of the City.
9. As regards the ground occupied by the present temporary Hospital, it would apparently be necessary to bring the Police Barrack forward to the Street, so as to leave room for a new priso block where the Barrack now stands; and I should add that I am doubtful whether this locality would admit of the Police Courts being also placed there, or whether it would not be necessary is look for a site elsewhere.
10. If either of these plans were adopted, advantage should be taken of the opportunity of increasing the accommodation to improve as much as possible the existing prison. The enlargement of the airing grounds by the removal of the radiating blocks, and the erection of a separate Hospital are among the improvements which seem most imperatively called for.
11. The only alternative to these extensions being apparently the construction of an entirely new prison, the question of site remains to be considered: and it will be necessary to weigh the relative merits of all available spots, including Stone Cutters' Island, and any vacant Crown Lands within reasonable distance of the town:--or on the face of the hill above the houses.
4. Nothing but the strongest reasons could justify me in interfering with a dietary scale framed by gentlemen of so much local knowledge as the Commissioners, and adopted as a final settlement by mexperienced predecessor. But what I saw in the Gaol when I occasionally paid surprize visits after the prisoners had had their meals, and the accurate information and valuable advice I received from some of the leading Chinese gentlemen in the Colony, as to the average meal of a hard working Chinese coolie outside the prison, induced me to cut down the dietary scale I found in operation.
5. I need hardly say that in the reductions I made, I did not forget the instructions given from time to time by Her Majesty's Government that short sentenced prisoners can be safely subjected to greater reductions of food than long sentenced prisoners.
6. Beginning in August, 1877, and proceeding carefully and with the sanction of Dr. AYRES, the Colonial Surgeon, the enclosed comparative table shows the reductions, I thought it my duty to make in the dietary scale as it existed on my arrival in April, 1877.
7. It will be seen that all the Chinese prisoners that pass through the Hongkong Gaol have been subjected to some reduction in diet, and that this reduction, in the case of the vast majority of the prisoners has not been inconsiderable. In the statistical returns of the Hongkong Prison for 1876 that were laid before Sir ARTHUR KENNEDY, and which appear in Blue Book for 1876, page 168, the following table is given:-
Number of Persons committed to Penal Imprisonment in the Hongkong Gaol, not including Debtors (26) and Security cases (700).
For 5 Years and upwards.
From 1 Year to 5 Years.
From 3 Months For 3 Months
to 12 Months.
or less.
20
117
254
2,968
12. In many respects I am of opinion that the erection of a new prison on a new site will be found to be the best solution of the question, but the expense which it would involve would doubtless be very great, and it will be for you to inquire carefully into the financial conditions of the various schemes which I have suggested. The main elements for consideration appear to be roughly, on the one hand, the cost of acquiring additional land in the vicinity of the present site and of converting the present buildings and erecting those which will be required in addition; and on the other hand the cost of a new site and the cost of a new prison; against which should be set the amount that The enclosed comparative table shows that, in the case of all Chinese prisoners committed for six would be derived form the sale of the present site and buildings. I need scarcely say that in the months or under, I have reduced the Dietary Scale of the Gaol Commission to the following extent:--- event of its being decided to erect a wholly new Gaol, it would be undesirable to spend money of enlarging or converting the present building.
13. In the foregoing remarks it has been my object to set before you what I conceive are the chiết elements of the question for consideration, and before I arrive at a final decision on a matter in which the assistance of specific local knowledge is so material, I shall be happy to receive from you a report upon the comparative cost of the several proposals, and upon the sites which seem to you suitable fors new Gaol, together with such further suggestions as you may desire to offer after consulting Mr. PRICE,
I have the honour to be,
Your most obedient humble Servant,
M. HICKS-BEACH.
Governor HENNESSY, C. M. G.,
&c., &c.. &c.
Sir,
His Excellency Governor Pope Hennessy, C.M.G., to the Right Honourable Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, Bart., M. P.
Common Rice, per day,
Fresh Fish, 2 days a week,. Salt Fish, 3 days a week,. Vegetables, twice a week,.
Dietary Scale of Gaol Commission.
26 ounces.
6
3
22
23
Existing Dietary Scale.
16 ounces.
4
39
2 ::
16
"
Thus of the three thousand four hundred criminals that on average are subjected to the discipline of the Hongkong Gaol every year, over three thousand come under the above reduction of diet.
8. In the case of prisoners on penal diet, I have also made a considerable reduction in the allowance of food recommended by the Gaol Commission.
9. The Colonial Surgeon has carefully watched and continues to watch the effect of these reduc- tions of diet, and I have made no change without his entire concurrence. On the other hand, bearing in mind what Lord CANARVON says in his Despatch No. 45 of 7th May, 1877, in the case of the [No. 96.]
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
comparatively small number of prisoners who are undergoing more than three years imprisonment, I HONGKONG, 3rd October, 1878. SIR-In Despatch No. 103 of the 22nd of August, 1877, the EARL OF CARNARVON expresses the have allowed the Colonial Surgeon to restore the weekly ration of pork that had always been given to opinion that Sir ARTHUR KENNEDY, (in a Despatch he wrote a few months before he left Hongkong them until March, 1877, and which was stopped for a few months in opposition to his professional had good reason, in the absence of any other apparent cause, for connecting the increase of crime in the opinion. Colony with the cheap fares from Canton. His Lordship, however, was good enough to add, "It's 10. Another point on which, as it appeared to me, the discipline of the Hongkong Gaol was not true, however, that as pointed out in your Despatch No. 43 of 22nd June, 1877, the increasing sufliciently deterrent is that of real hard labour. On the last occasion that I brought this question of "number of recommittals and of convictions generally may be to some extent accounted for by defectGaol labour and prison discipline to the notice of the Legislative Council, (29th of April, 1878) the "in the prison system as especially by the fact of the discipline of the Gaol not being sufficiently sevenSenior un-official member, Mr. RYRIE, to whose sound judgment and knowledge I attach great weight, expressed the opinion that the present system was less deterrent than one under which the prisoners would be compelled to do some remunerative hard work. On this subject I shall have the honour of addressing you in a separate despatch.
I have, &c.,
to act as a deterrent."
2. Next to the serious evils of the associated system, one of the gravest defects I found in Hong kong Gaol was the excessive amount of food given to the Chinese prisoners. The enclosed extra from minutes of various meetings of the Executive Council contain a record of my views and proceed ings on the important question of the prison dietary not being in my opinion sufficiently deterrent
3. The Regulations on this subject of the Gaol Commission that had been presided over by M SNOWDEN had been adopted and promulgated a short time before my arrival; and Sir ARTHUR KENNED The Right Honourable on the eve of his departure, had expressed to Lord CARNARVON, (Despatch No. 40, 28th Februar 1877), the opinion that the dietary scale of Victoria Gaol had at length been satisfactorily settled, a finally adopted by the Executive."
SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH, Bart., M. P.,
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonics,
Fo.,
fre.
J. POPE HENNESSY,
Governor,