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།།། ། ཱ།

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference

C.O. 882

4 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

"Au-a-fú sentenced on the 23rd of April, 1877.

Received the "first flogging at 4 p.m. on the 10th of May. Had twelve wounds still bleeding on the "19th instant."

"In-a-man sentenced on the 26th of April, 1877.

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•

•

Received first flogging on the 10th instant. Had eight wounds still bleeding on the 19th instant." 8. In about ten days more I again visited the prison with Mr. Cecil Smith, the Registrar General, and Bishop Burdon, when we saw the blood still flowing from the torn backs of those prisoners.

9. Two or three weeks after this the Colonial Secretary asked for my instructions on an application from Mr. Tomlin to have the second public flogging carried out on Au-a-fu and In-a-man. The usual printed form of certificate, signed by Dr. Ayres, the Colonial Surgeon, was enclosed in Mr. Tomlin's letter to the effect that he had examined the prisoners and found them fit to be flogged.

10. Thinking it possible that the newly covered granulations might be still tender, I did not feel myself justified in sanctioning the second public flogging without a more detailed statement than the printed form of certificate supplied. I therefore directed ■ copy of Mr. Tomlin's memorandum to be sent to the Colonial Surgeon with a request that he would furnish a report on the condition of the two men who were flogged on the 10th of May.

11. In his report Dr. Ayres seems to adhere to the opinion that the men might be flogged a second time. He says--

"Of course the new skin is still tender, but it is now more than ten days since the "wounds closed. It is therefore my duty to report that the men are convalescent."

12. The admission in this report, that the new skin was still tender, made me hesitate still more about the second flogging; and, meanwhile, I made some enquiries with a view of ascertaining whether there were any special reasons why the prisoners should have appeared so weak when I saw them, and why their wounds had been so slow to heal. The explanation I found to consist in the fact that they had been as it were pre- pared for the flogging by a course of penal diet-rice and water, and that the new regulations of the Gaol Commission of last year respecting the diet of Chinese prisoners, to which Your Lordship objects in despatch No. 45 of 7th May last, had been strictly enforced.

13. Having called for further information from the Colonial Surgeon on the general question of the new dietary, he reported on the 4th of July against the changes made by the Goal Committee. With reference to the removal of chutney from the dietary scale of the Chinese prisoners, he says --

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"The condiments in the chutney were necessary to enable the prisoners to digest the enormous mass of rice. As a consequence of the loss of the chutney there have been many more complaints than usual of the digestive organs-dyspepsia, colic, diarrhoea, " &c. &c."

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He also points out that the dietary established in opposition to his advice is the same that in India is believed to be one of the causes of leprosy.

14. In addition to the physical consequences of the injurious diet given to these men before their flogging they had also been subjected, whilst on penal diet, to a form of work which, in spite of Your Lordship's distinct instructions, was, in the words of the Gaol Committee, the most irksome and laborious to which Chinese prisoners could be put. On this subject I will address Your Lordship in another despatch.

18. After what I have said, I am confident Your Lordship will approve of the directions I have given to suspend the second flogging of those prisoners until further orders.

16. There is one aspect of these public floggings that I must not conceal from Your Lordship. One of the oldest and most respectable European residents in Hong Kong, and perhaps the best informed gentleman in the Colony respecting the Chinese, informs me that the ostentatious marching of the prisoners half naked through the crowded streets and the public exhibition of an English turnkey flogging with a vigorous_arm the speedily bleeding body of a Chinaman, tied to the whipping post, is not calculated to do much good to the groups of neglected little children who flock to see it, and to the great majority of whom this spectacle is the only lesson they receive from the civilized Government under which they have been born.

17. Confining myself, therefore, at present, simply to the mode in which the lash is used in Hong Kong, it is my duty to recommend Your Lordship to sanction the following changes:-

1st. That the practice of 2nd and 3rd floggings for the same offence be abolished.

2nd. That between the sentence of flogging and the execution of the sentence no prisoner be placed on penal diet.

3rd. That the public whipping post be removed, and that all floggings be administered in future within the precincts of the gaol in the presence of certain gaol officials.

I have, &c. (Signed) J. POPE HENNESSY,

The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon,

&c.

&c.

&c.

Governor.

ACTING SUPERINTENDENT, Hong Kong Gaol, to COLONIAL SECRETARY.

(No. 57.)

SIR,

Victoria Gaol Office, June 20, 1877.

I HAVE the honour to report that Chinese prisoners Au-a-Fu and Im-a-Man, who were sentenced at the Criminal Sessions, held in April last, to three years' penal servitude and to receive three public floggings of twenty-five strokes each, are pronounced by the Colonial Surgeon as fit to undergo another flogging. I beg respectfully to ask the instructions of His Excellency the Governor in the matter.

The prisoners received their first flogging on the 10th May last.

I have, &c. (Signed)

(Q. 16.)

A.

GRO. L. TOMLIN,

Acting Superintendent.

Hong Kong Gaol Hospital, June 20, 1877.

I CERTIFY that I have examined the under-mentioned prisoners to receive public floggings as specified, and I find them fit to receive their punishments.

No.

Sentence.

Date of Santos.

Lashes received.

Lashes to

ressive.

Crime.

Tears. | Montba.| Days.

Lashes.

1

2

An-1-Fu Im-a-Man

28 Apr. 1877 96 Apr. 1877

8

75

25

76

25

25 26

Child steeling. Larosny

wounding.

and

(Signed)

Pâ. B. C. AYRIS,

Colonial Surgeon.

MEMO. by ACTING SUPERINTENDENT, Victoria Gaol, Hong Kong.

Names of two Chinese prisoners in the Gaol Hospital on the 19th instant suffering from the effects of corporal punishment.

1. Au-a-Fu, sentenced on 23rd April 1877 to three years' penal servitude and to receive three public floggings of 25 strokes with the regulation instrument within the first six months, for child stealing. Received the first flogging at 4 p.m. the 10th May. Had twelve wounds still bleeding on the 19th instant.

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2. Im-a-Man, sentenced on 26th April 1877 to three years' penal servitude and to receive three public floggings of 25 strokes each with the regulation instrument within the first six months, for larceny and wounding. Received first flogging on the 10th instant. Had eight wounds still bleeding on the 19th instant.

(Signed) GRO. L. TOMLIN,

Acting Superintendent.

Victoria Gaol, 21 May 1877.

MINUTE by HIS EXCELLENCY the Govnanox.

Transmit copy of Mr. Tomlin's Memorandum of the 21st of May to the Colonial Surgeon, and request him, with reference to it and to the certifosse he (Dr. Ayres)

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signed on the 20th of June, to be good enough to give a detailed report on the condition of the two men who were flogged on the 10th of May.

22 June 1877.

(Signed)

J. P. H.