30
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
mumimmim TILL¶C.O.885
46
Enclosure 8 in No. 22.
The GOVERNOR to the ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY.
ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY.
SEEN. The Inspector-General is aware of the necessity of resorting to corporal punishment on active service in this part of Africa, and has always, when on expeditions, been invested with the powers now given to officers in the Hinterland. Medical I have no reason to suppose that too Officers, of course, attend when they are available. much flogging takes place in the Hinterland.
Kintampo, September 4, 1897.
W. E. M.
Enclosure 9 in No. 22.
The INSPECTOR-GENERAL to the ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY.
THE HONOURABLE ACTING COLONIAL SEcretary.
I AM perfectly aware of the necessity of resorting to corporal punishment on active service with African troops. I have no hesitation in stating that I know the rules of this sort of punishment better than any European official in this part of the world, having joined the army and been on active service since 1854, when flogging was, you may say, the only punishment in the field besides the death sentence. During the whole of my experience I have never known corporal punishment take place without a Medical Officer being present, whether on white or black troops. I judge from the reports received, and it appears to me that flogging has been resorted to by only certain officers in the Hinterland.
October 4, 1897.
F. C. S.
7465.
(No. 168.)
SIR,
47
No. 24.
GOLD COAST.
MR. CHAMBERLAIN to GOVERNOR HODGSON.
Downing Street, April 16, 1898. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 91 of the 21st of February, transmitting returns of the cases in which corporal punishment has been inflicted during the year 1897.
2. As regards paragraph 4 of your despatch, I have asked Major-General Sir F. Scott for his observations on the return "C" in your despatch, and he has submitted to me certain letters and minutest which no doubt form the correspondence to which you refer, but the copy of which was omitted from your despatch.
3. In future, flogging should only be resorted to for the most serious offences, and never except on a medical certificate of fitness to bear such a punishment, and never without a medical officer being present.
I have, &c.,
9617.
No. 25.
J. CHAMBERLAIN.
SIERRA LEONE.
GOVERNOR SIR F. CARDEW to MR. CHAMBERLAIN.
(No. 69.)
(Received May 2, 1898.)
7
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO ||
7265.
SIR.
No. 23.
TRINIDAD.
MR. CHAMBERLAIN to GoVERNOR SIR H. E. H. JERNINGHAM.
(No. 120.)
Downing Street, April 16, 1898.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 90, of the 10th of March, enclosing particulars of four cases of sentences of flogging imposed by magistrates during the year 1897.
2. I consider the punishment of 36 lashes to be too severe, even in the case of repeated convictions. and I request that you will intimate to the magistrates that I have expressed the opinion that not more than 24 lashes should be inflicted, and that reduce any sentence in excess of that number.
you
will
I must express my surprise that such a sentence should have been imposed as that of 72 lashes, on two separate counts, on Daniel Lambert, and the sentence was very properly revised by the Acting Governor.
• 7265: not printed.
I have, &c.,
J. CHAMBERLAIN.
Government House, Fort Thornton, SIR,
Freetown, Sierra Leone, April 9, 1898. REFERRING to your despatch No. 44 of the 22nd February, on the subject of a return of corporal punishments inflicted in Freetown Gaol during the year 1897, I have the honour to state that, in compliance with your instructions, I have impressed upon the various officials concerned, the necessity of exercising great discretion in the infliction of corporal punishment, but I should mention that in the cases numbered respectively 10, 13, and 19, in which sentences were passed by the Supreme Court, the offenders pleaded guilty to two, five, and six previous convictions respectively, and that, therefore, I trust you will not consider these cases were in contravention of your despatch No. 58 of the 30th March, 1897,§ and I would further explain that, under the law in force in this Colony, the Court has no power to flog in cases of burglary and larceny, unless there have been two or more convictions of felony.
2. With respect to the cases of floggings inflicted by the Justices of the Peace, and numbered respectively 1, 4, 5, 14, and 23, I am informed by the Keeper of the gaol that the punishments in the first two cases were awarded under the old gaol regulations, and in the last two cases the offenders were incorrigible, one of them having been more than 80 times under report.
I have, &c.,
F. CARDEW,
Governor.
• No. 22.
↑ Printed as enclosures 7, 8 and 9 in No. 22.
§ 26119/96: not printed.
‡ No. 18.
9416.
48