PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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C.O. 882
4 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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They refer to the case of another prisoner "who was flogged about a month ago, in "whom the left buttock healed rapidly but the right sloughed and a large ulcer remains, "which will take some time to heal."
any
11. Having themselves been witnesses of those serious results, it is not surprising that Dr. Wells and Dr. O'Brien should recommend that so severe a weapon should be abandoned. In lieu of this heavy instrument they recommend a cat “without knots." The "cat" hitherto used in Hong Kong gaol had “nine tails" with knots worked on each "tail." They recommend in the case of prisoners under eighteen years of age that the flogging should be on the breech, but with a cat with only six tails: and in the case of prisoners under thirteen years of age that a birch be used. In the case of all other prisoners sentenced to be flogged they recommend that the flogging_should be on the back, but with important modifications from the former system, namely, that there should be a thick canvas covering to protect the loins and a thick canvas collar to prevent injury to the neck. By means of these canvas protections they say the blown will fall only "on the muscles covering the shoulder blades and the intermediate spinal space."
12. Of the recommendations of the medical Board I should be prepared (if flogging on the back were to be re-introduced) to support the substitution of a cat without any knots whatever for the more severe and injurious instrument hitherto used. I should support their recommendation with respect to prisoners under eighteen years of age being flogged only on the breech with a cat without knots or with a birch. But I cannot approve, even with the well intended protections they suggest, of flogging any orientals on the shoulder blades and the intermediate spinal space." Therefore, as flogging on the breech or the upper part of the thighs alone should be allowed, it will obviously be necessary to use a rattan and not to permit the use of even the modified cat recommended by the Committee.
13. As pointed out by the Colonial Surgeon in his minute upon the report, of the prisoners sentenced by the Supreme Court since 1873 to flogging on the back the medical Board had only seen two: and as to the medical records in the gaol of the other cases of men flogged, Dr. Ayres says it had never been the custom before his time to make such records. Of the Chinese that he had himself seen flogged since his arrival in Hong Kong in 1873, he reiterates the statement he originally made, "I am sure of
my diagnosis, as far as the congestion of the lungs is concerned."
CE
14. Of the two cases of Mok-a-Kwai and Leung-a-Loi, the Colonial Surgeon says in the same minute :—
"Mok-a-Kwai released from gaol in a dying condition, and Leung-a-Loi still in gol suffering from phthisis were both when they entered healthy powerful muscular men, " presenting no indications whatever of hereditary disease.
* *
To what then can the disease they were attacked with be attributed? I cannot myself regard it otherwise than as caused by the punishment they had received; both "of them were horribly marked, their backs having sloughed from the extensive
bruising."
"
15. Whilst there is no doubt whatever that the facts before the medical Board as to floggings with the rattan two inches in circumference were sufficiently numerous and conclusive to warrant them in recommending the abandonment of that too heavy and severe weapon, and the substitution of the lighter instrument of a cat without knots, it is equally clear that the evidence they were able to obtain in the gaol as to the physical injury caused to the Chinese by flogging on the back was extremely meagre. On the other hand, they do not appear to have thought it necessary to follow up an interesting piece of evidence
caused to be laid before them, that is an extract from the records of the Emperor Fai-Tsung (A.D. 627–650) and an extract from the records of the Han dynasty to the effect that there was a risk of causing death by flogging on the back, and that therefore throughout the whole of China floggings should be administered only on the buttocks. More than a thousand years have passed since the Chinese Government abandoned, on this account, the system of flogging on the back; and, of the numerous Chinese doctors now residing in Hong Kong, I have ascertained that, without exception, they all believe the practice of the Chinese Government to be founded, in this matter, on sound principles, and that to flog a Chinaman on the shoulder blades and the inter- mediate spinal space would involve a risk of injury to the internal organs.
16. The Committee take no notice of one point that was laid before them in the correspondence, namely, Dr. Ayres' second objection to flogging on the back, that it causes permanent scars which after liberation from prison would be seen whenever the man who had been flogged worked, as all coolies do here in summer, stripped to the waist, whereas if the flogging had been inflicted on the breech this lifelong exposure of a
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degrading punishment would not be continued after the man had left gaol. On this point Mr. Justice Snowden, in a letter that was before the committee, writes "It seems Dr. Ayres was speaking of the shame felt by men who after leaving prison might be obliged to expose their backs bearing indelible gaol marks. If such is the nature of Dr. Ayres' objection I quite agree with him that it would be a reason for abolishing Mr. Justice Snowden adds "I quite agree with Dr. Ayres flogging on the back.” "that flogging should be administered on the breech and not on the back."
"
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17. The enclosures in my despatches Nos. 4 and 5, of 19th January 1879, will have shown you that the Chinese community of Hong Kong, including the chief owners of property, concur on this subject with the views expressed by Dr. Ayres and Mr. Justice Snowden.
The Right Hon. Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bart., M.P.,
SIR,
&c.
&c.
I have, &c. (Signed) J. POPE HENNESSY.
ENCLOSURE in GOVERNOR POPE HENNESSY'S DESPAtch No. 53, of 13 May, 1879. REPORT OF MEDICAL COMMITTEE on the Mode of FLOGGING and its EFFECTS.
Hongkong, 8th October, 1878.
In accordance with the requests contained in letters from your office, dated 27th, 29th April, and lat May last, we have enquired:-
--
Ist, into the physical effects of the punishment of flogging with the "Regulation Cat,"
upon healthy Chinese subjects.
2nd, into the prevalence or otherwise of pulmonary complaints among the prisoners in
Victoria Gaol.
3rd, whether flogging on the back produces among Chinese phthisis or any permanent injury of the internal organs, and whether the prisoner Leong-a-Loi has been phthisically affected by the three floggings he has received on the back with the regulation cat.
We have the honour to report, that as there has not been any prisoner in Victoria Gaol punished by flogging with the regulation cat on the back since we commenced our enquiry, no opportunity has been afforded us of observing the immediate effects of that punishment.
The Colonial Surgeon states that no prisoner has ever fainted during the infliction of the punishment, nor has a flogging ever been stopped on account of the suffering of the recipient. He also describes certain symptoms indicative of the severity of the punish- ment, which set in within twenty-four hours of its infliction, and continue for six or seven days, and calls attention to the slowness of the healing process of wounds among the Chinese. We are likewise informed by him that the number of cases of flogging on the back which he has witnessed is uncertain, inasmuch as the gaol records do not state what implement was used for the seventy floggings of which he has had experience.
syncope
It appears that no death after flogging on the back has occurred from direct shock, from
due to effusion of blood either underneath the skin, in the muscles, or any important organs or cavities, from erysipelas, abscess, sloughing, or pyæmia.
Thus, no death has taken place in Victoria Gaol, presumed to be the result of flogging on the back, except from phthisis.
"
We pass on to the second enquiry-"The prevalence or otherwise of pulmonary complaints among the prisoners in Victoria Gaol."
In the absence of reliable statistics, it is difficult to say whether phthisis is common amongst the Chinese in this Colony. The reports from the Medical Missionaries at Pekin, Hankow, Canton, &c. state that it is a disease less frequently met with amongst the Chinese than among the residents in Europe or America, and if it is more prevalent in Hong Kong than in purely Chinese cities it seems strange, for surely there is some attempt made here to enforce sanitary measures; the houses of the poor are better than in any Chinese city, and it is but fair to believe that the people are as well nourished and clothed.
The Mortality Table for last year at the Registrar General's Office gives the deaths from phthisis at 3 per 1,000 among Chinese, and those of British and Foreign at 2:50 G 2