OFFICE
Reference -
C.O. 885
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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proceed), the Governor on the 3rd December, 1872, communicated to Lord Kimberley the course he had resolved to adopt, which seemed to be all that could be desired, and expressed a hope that everything would be accomplished in the course of 1873. He proposed " to have at Singapore a large central gaol, in which the most approved system of penal discipline that can be applied in this country shall be carried out. The completion (he ́ added) of the work, it is hoped, may be effected in the course of next year" (i. e. 1873).
14. The scheme of reform proposed by the Commission did, indeed, leave nothing to be desired; but the Governor's despatch states only that he had "adopted the principal part of the recommendations;" and though the entire adoption of the separate system was no doubt a very principal part, I gather from the Report of the sub-Committee (12 No. vember, 1872), and the plans and estimates of the Acting Colonial Engineer, that no such "The accommo- entire adoption of the system was intended. The Sub-Committee says: dation provided here (at Singapore) by the Acting Colonial Engineer's proposals is based on the estimate of the special Committee (meaning the special Commission) on prison discipline, but is considerably under the actual present numbers. This the Commission, however, expected to be sensibly reduced, both by the deterrent character of the punish. ment and the shorter sentences which judges and magistrates would probably feel justified in inflicting as the improved system should become fully developed. It would be, of course, a more perfect scheme to go to a new and more extensive site where the buildings might be more symmetrically arranged and provision at once made as regards the extent of inclosure for any possible number of prisoners; but we do not feel justified in recom- We think it will be best to mending the very considerable extra expenditure so involved. proceed gradually with the conversion of the existing prison as proposed." And the Acting Colonial Engineer's letter to the Colonial Secretary of 28th September, 1872, speaks of 700 prisoners as the average number to be provided for at Singapore when the long- sentenced prisoners from Penang and Malacca shall have been brought there as intended (the average of the Singapore prisoners alone being 545), and he proposes to take a sui on the estimates for 1873 sufficient to build fifty-two cells and to place the European prisoners only in separation, and to clear the ground for the construction of 200 cells more in 1874, and "These last being completed, the conversion of the existing wards may be proceeded with as funds are available.”
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15. This was apparently the extent, so far as separation is concerned, of the intended scheme of reform.
In the Governor's despatch, after adverting to the measures "which Secretaries of State have repeatedly urged upon the Government," and which are "of the greatest im- portance to the welfare of the Settlement," and to which Lord Kimberley had “again recently drawn his earnest attention," he tells Lord Kimberley that he has brought the papers before the Council in the trust that they would be able to mature "a scheme which "glad would remove those evils of which complaint had so justly been made,” and he was to be able to state that this expectation has been fully realized and that the Council has unanimously approved of the adoption of measures calculated to place the system of prison discipline and management throughout the Colony on a sound basis.”
Now not only had successive Secretaries of State insisted upon separation as indis. 11 of whose pensable to a sound system, but the local Commission, the "principal part recommendations the Governor professed to have adopted, says (p. 6): “We cannot but "in all prison discipline, the separate believe, with the Lords' Committee that " system is an essential basis on which to act."
16. The truth is only to be got at by a search through a voluminous mass of inclosures, and Lord Kimberley's answer to the Governor (24th January, 1873) treats him as having really adopted in full the recommendations of the Prison Commission of 1871 (whose report is an able treatment of the subject), and leaves to his discretion the means by which the new system is to be brought into operation.
17. In a despatch of the 22nd of August, 1873, Sir Harry Ord forwarded plans of the new ward of fifty-two, or, as it now appears to be, of fifty-six cells for European prisoners which had been recommended by the Commission of 1871. These plans were approved by Lord Kimberley in a despatch, of the 15th of October, in which, after saying that he considered the Government had acted rightly in commencing them at once, he continued as follows: "Fpresume that such ulterations will be made in the existing prison buildings as will adapt them for the application of the separate system to non- European prisoners."
18. Nor was this the only occasion on which the Secretary of State had taken occasion to remind the Governor of the necessity of providing for the separate system. In his Lordship's despatch of the 22nd of August, 1873, on the Prison Rules, he had observed: "The Rules respecting classification imply the absence of the separate system,
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which is no doubt inevitable until the prisons are reconstructed on that system. the work of reconstruction is completed so as to admit of the separate system, additional Rules as to classification and separation will have to be framed."
To neither of these despatches did the local Government make any reply. And it appears that beyond the construction of the European ward nothing was done to introduce the separate system-such attention as was bestowed by the Public Works Department on prisons being bestowed on the prisons of the minor settlements.
19. The matter of prison reconstruction was, moreover, not the only one on which the Secretary of State seems to have been left in ignorance, and I am sorry to say that the point to which I am about to advert involves a charge against the Colonial Government of Ca direct disregard of the instructions of the Secretary of State.
20. The Prison Commission of 1871 had recommended the introduction, as a feature of prison discipline, of what had been called in Ceylon "penal dict," that is a dict of rice, salt, and water for natives, and bread, salt, and water for Europeans.
Despatch No. 13,
Upon this subject Lord Kimberley observed that the Straits authorities should await the results of an inquiry then proceeding in Ceylon before introducing the Ceylon diet of 24th January, into the Straits gaols.
From a despatch addressed by Sir Andrew Clarke to the Secretary of State, on the 28th of November following it appeared that Lord Kimberley's instruction had been disregarded, the diet having been at once introduced, although made the subject of special observation by a Medical Committee.
The Report of that Committee appeared eminently unsatisfactory, showing, as it did, that the death rate in the prison had nearly doubled since the introduction of penal diet.
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1873.
In reply, Lord Kimberley observed: "Looking to the great increase in the death-rate No. 286, February since the introduction of penal diet, I am unable to agree with the Committee that its 1874. effects should be further tried. I have to request that a more varied and nutritious diet may be at once introduced, and that at the end of six months its effect may be reported on with reference to the health and death rate of the prisoners."
"In
my despatch No. 13, of the 24th of January, 1873, I intimated that penal diet ought not to be introduced until the results of a similar diet in use in Ceylon had been ascertained. intimation was disregarded."
1 have to request that you will inquire and explain how it was that this
21. The Secretary of State's request for an explanation was unheeded, and the original instruction, reiterated as it was in the despatch just cited, continued to be neglected. The only notice taken of the despatch was a Memorandum in the usual schedule of unanswered despatches, which month after month stated that the matter was forming the subject of correspondence with other Governments. This Memorandum did not disclose the continued disregard of the Secretary of State's instructions.
22. Such having been the circumstances, I have to request that you will explain to me fully how the instructions contained in my predecessor's two despatches came to be neglected. Further, I must request that you will ascertain and inform me through whose hands those despatches passed, what annotations, if any, were made on them in relation to the penal diet question, what action was taken upon them, and how they were finally disposed of. In the meantime I must add that I am not convinced as to the merits of the lower form of penal diet by the opinions which your Government has collected from persons in the Straits Settlements and from other Colonies; and I must, therefore, request that, in accordance with the instructions of my predecessor, contained in his despatch No. 28, of the 6th of February, 1874, you will immediately direct that a more varied and somewhat more nutritious diet be at once introduced, and that its effect be reported on after six months in relation to the health and death-rate of the prisoners as compared with the health and death-rate since the introduction of penal diet.
23. The plans of the new prison which you have forwarded shall receive my commendation, and I will address you later upon the subject. The introduction of the separate system and the maintenance of a viligant discipline may, I hope, in time place the penal system on a sound footing. Major Gray, who is to take the place of the late Mr. Dent, has completed his course of training in the English convict prisons, and I have every reason to hope that, as a disciplinarian and administrator, he will prove equal to the difficult and responsible task which lies before him. In that task he will need more efficient assistance than can at present be afforded him from the prison staff of the Colony, and one of the first questions which you will have to consider in conjunction with him after his arrival is the addition to be made to the strength of the prison staff.
24. In conclusion, I have to request that you will convey to the President and
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