14
496
[No. 164.]
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 19TH OCTOBER, 1878.
His Excellency Governor Pope Hennessy, C.M.G., to the Right Honourable The Earl of Carnarvon.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 22nd November, 1877. MY LORD, With reference to my Despatches on the evils of the associated prison system in this Colony, and to your Lordship's instructions in the Despatch No. 45 of the 7th of May last directing me to call on the Surveyor General for plans of the alterations necessary for adapting the Gaol to the Separate System, I have now the honour to transmit to Your Lordship Mr. PRICE's Report, accom- panied by plans and a condensed estimate of the cost.
Your Lordship will perceive that owing to the inadequacy of the actual Gaol accommodation, it necessary enlargement and modifications will involve an expenditure of $95,000.
The transportation of long sentenced criminals, however, as shown by the Surveyor General, would do away with the necessity for a new detached wing and would reduce the outlay to 844,800, or less than one half, a circumstance which makes me the more hopeful of your Lordship's favourable con- sideration of my Despatches Nos. 117 of 15th September, 121 of 21st September, and No. 155 of 7th November, 1877, with reference to Labuan as a convict settlement for Hongkong.
As to the works particularized by Mr. PRICE, I may remind your Lordship that this town is built on a strongly marked slope, and that ouce a building site has been levelled and laid out, it is a matter of extreme difficulty to effect subsequent extensions. These difficulties of level, no less than the want of room, will account for the somewhat close juxtaposition of the buildings and the absence of more capacious airing yards.
There is no doubt the present Gaol is unfortunately placed. Sir HERCULES ROBINSON'S plan of having a convict prison on Stone Cutter's Island would have prevented some of the serious evils of overcrowding and association to which it has been my duty from time to time to refer. Looking however to your Lordship's instructions, I have confined myself to considering such alterations only as may be essential in the existing Gaol in the Town of Victoria.
I have, &c.,
The Right Honourable The EARL OF CARNARVON,
[No. 48.]
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies,
fc.,
C.
de.
J. POPE HENNESSY,
Governor.
The Right Honourable Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, Bart., M. P., to His Excellency Governor Pope Hennessy, C.M.G.
DOWNING STREET,
5th June, 1878. S--I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, No. 164, of the 22nd of November, relating to proposed improvements in the Victoria Gaol, and enclosing plans prepared by the Surveyor General for this purpose.
2. I am aware that in drawing these plans, Mr. PRICE has conformed to the instructions contained in paragraph 6 of my Predecessor's Despatch, No. 45, of the 7th of May, 1877, and I fully appreciate the care which he has bestowed upon them, but after duc consideration of the subject, I am of opinion that they will not provide the accommodation required.
It
3. 1 observe that both you and the Surveyor General refer to the question of the reconstruction of the Gaol as dependent on the project of transporting long sentenced criminals to Labuan. he convenient, therefore, that I should at once state that I am not at present prepared to entertain this may suggestion, and that any scheme for the improvement of the prison "discipline in the Colony should proceed on the assumption that Hongkong will have to provide accommodation for the whole of its
own criminals.
4. Keeping this decision in view, it will be evident that Mr. PRICE's plans for the enlargement of the existing Gaol, while they scarcely meet even the present requirements of the Colony, are open to objection on the grounds which he has himself indicated in paragraph 16 of his letter to the Colonial Secretary, viz., that the size of the airing yards, already small, will be still further diminished. Such a diminution of the prison yards together with the crowding of fresh buildings on the present site would be highly detrimental both to the discipline and the sanitary condition of the prison, and on this ground, it will be necessary to abandon Mr. PRICE's proposal.
5. It has been suggested as a mode of meeting the difficulty that the prisoners should be divided, and a second prison built outside the town, but as at present advised, I consider it wholly out of the question to establish two separate prisons in so small a Colony.
6. Two alternatives present themselves, the one being to enlarge the existing prison by acquiring and building on additional ground in the immediate neighbourhood: the other to abandon the present buildings and erect a wholly new prison on a different site.
7. As regards the acquisition of additional ground, an extension may apparently be sought either above or below the present site; that is to say, it would seem feasible either to resume the leases of the land immediately above Chancery Lane and carry the Gaol up to Caine Road, (at the same time
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 19TH OCTOBER, 1878.
497
closing Chaucery 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 out 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 prison 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 to 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 ou the face of the hill above the houses.
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 would be derived form the sale of the present site and buildings. I need scarcely say that in the event of its being decided to erect a wholly new Gaol, it would be undesirable to spend money on 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 chief 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 for a new Gaol, together with such further suggestious as you may desire to offer after consulting Mr. PRICE.
I have the honour to be,
Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant,
M. HICKS-BEACH.
Governor HENNESSY, C. M. G.,
&e.,
&C., &e.
[No. 96.]
His Excellency Governor Pope Hennessy, C.M.G., to the Right Honourable Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, Bart., M. P.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 3rd October, 1878. SIR-In Despatch No. 103 of the 22nd of August, 1877, the EARL OF CARNARVON expresses the opinion that Sir ARTHUR KENNEDY, (in a Despatch he wrote a few months before he left Hongkong), had good reason, in the absence of any other apparent cause, for connecting the increase of crime in the Colony with the cheap fares from Canton. His Lordship, however, was good enough to add, "It is however, that as pointed out in your Despatch No. 43 of 22nd June, 1877, the increasing "number of recommittals and of convictions generally may be to some extent accounted for by defects in the prison system as especially by the fact of the discipline of the Gaol not being sufficiently severe "to act as a deterrent."
true,
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 extracts 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 Mr. SNOWDEN had been adopted and promulgated a short time before my arrival; and Sir ARTHOR KENNEDY, on the eve of his departure, had expressed to Lord CARNARVON, (Despatch No. 40, 28th February, 1877), the opinion that the dietary scale of Victoria Gaol had at length been satisfactorily settled, and finally adopted by the Executive."