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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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TTIILIC.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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the nation has their restoration to society at heart! Admirable con- sistency! nay, I cannot waste words, my Lord,-rank hypocrisy rather, all this undoubtedly looks like. Recently a show of separation has been got up. Some of the late arrivals have been sent from the settlement to stations distant a mile or two away; but they are as constantly brought into contact with the old hands--actual separation only lasting during a parade on Sunday mornings. In every part of the wards, in gaol and hospital, they are constantly brought together. This leads me to show

that

5. The Moral Condition of the Convict is totally disregarded—his Reformation and Restoration to Society altogether overlooked. No adequate incentive to exertion for good is supplied. The prisoners are just so many slaves, and their superintendents and overseers so many drivers; for although, under your Lordship's directions, certain prospective advan- tages are promised as a reward for good conduct, these advantages are far too distant, and these promises have too often been broken, to have the slightest beneficial bearing upon the present conduct of the prisoner. He obtains nothing by right; "he is absolutely without motive, for he soon learns to disregard punishment. Fear, believe me, my Lord, is a far less operative principle than is commonly supposed. It may produce cunning and deceit, but no more generous offspring. The convicts are in fact slaves, and of course, like slaves, indolent and listless, perpetually endea- vouring to avoid work, until evasion becomes habitual. Men of originally industrious habits seldom retain them long here. With very few excep- tions, the prisoners leave the island confirmed shirks-idle, and useless to the community. It is the very essence of slavery to produce this disposi- tion of mind and body. Is it to be wondered at, that the worst possible feeling also exists between the prisoners and those placed over them -a feeling so strong, in the convict's mind at least, as to render nugatory the best intentions of individual officers? Nothing but constant vigilance, aided by the treachery of the prisoners towards each other, prevents at any moment an outbreak that would astonish the civilized world. When I add that extensive conspiracies have more than once been formed between the soldiers and large bodies of the prisoners, your Lordship will perceive that the possibility of the bursting forth of such a volcano is no vague subject of apprehension. Not only are the prisoners without motive for virtuous exertion-they are also without instruction. Deference to your Lordship's directions led to the promulgation of the following Order, numbered 27 in the “Regulations for Norfolk Island:"

"There will be daily school from six to eight o'clock P.M., under the care of the religious instructors at the several stations." By Clause No. 17 of the same Regulations, it is directed that the convicts are to be steadily and constantly employed at hard labour, from sunrise to sunset, an hour being allowed for dinner, &c." Am I not right in saying, my Lord, it is rank hypocrisy to talk about affording school instruction to men who are voluntarily to attend after such a day's work as is here required from them? The plain fact is, comparatively few men ever avail themselves of the permission. When the gangs are mustered at night, any man who may feel disposed is allowed to enter the school-room, instead of at once proceeding with others to the sleeping-wards; but what a strength of mind and purpose it requires to lead him thus to struggle against weariness and example, for the attainment of a moral or intellectual benefit? Such, however, is the desire to receive instruction— or, it may be, to escape even for an hour from the horrors of the night- wards in some cases, that a few are usually found willing to avail them- selves of this privilege; but even then there is no schoolmaster. Teachers are selected from the prisoners themselves; and for this act of self-denial, performed after their regular and full day's work is ended, they reap no advantage; whilst a common bullock-driver, for his ordinary day's work, is rated an overseer, and enjoys the attendant privileges; an illustration but too apt of the comparative regard manifested for the cattle and the prisoners.

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Again, by Clause No. 28 of the Regulations, "The religious instruc tors," it is said, "will read morning and evening prayers to the convicts of the several gangs, who are to be assembled for this purpose." A curi- ous correspondence in my possession, which I am unwilling to transcribe, would show that, in practice, a sad trifling with honesty takes place in this respect also-to such an extent, indeed, as to lead to a suspicion that the form, rather than any real benefit, is intended, as a sort of respect to common decency. "A few minutes"-" a collect or two"-" not exceeding in all ten minutes," is the whole amount of "religious instruction" the convict at labour is allowed during the week, and even this time taken from his resting hours. If this farce is to be continued, my Lord, it is useless to send religious instructors, and especially if they are to be the mere subordinates of the civil commandant.

6. The Physical Condition of the Convict in Norfolk Island is as wretched as his Moral, and as much requires amelioration. The daily ration of food throughout the year is as follows:

1 pound of salt meat.

1 pound maize meal.

1 ounce of sugar. ounce of salt.

My Lord, the men cannot live upon this. This scantiness of diet, aided by the constant use of salt meat (often very inferior in quality), yearly carries off numbers by dysentery-a disease from which I have not known one free person to die during my residence on the island. The men were formerly permitted to cultivate gardens-this is no longer allowed; they are promised, instead, a ration of sweet potatoes, but they have not yet received it, and I fear the issue will always be uncertain. I am convinced that the numberless cases of sheep-stealing, accompanied often by violence and murder, which occur, are mainly attributable to this insufficient diet. It would astonish the criminals of England if they saw the miserable dinners of these men served out, after the loss sustained in various ways, and in passing through many hands. It is difficult to understand how human life can be sustained by it. I am no mawkish sentimentalist, my Lord. I know that these men are undergoing punishment; but I am not ashamed to confess that it has excited my strongest compassion to see the ravages this fare has made on strong and hearty Englishmen. You can scarcely recognise the same men within a few weeks after their arrival. It is the more cruel, too, in their case. The old hand prisoners have lived through the process, and are acclimatized; but the convicts from home, after a voyage of months, almost always land with more or less of scurvy in their constitutions, and it may be imagined what the effects of such a diet in such circumstances must be. I have made repeated official representations on this subject. The medical officers in charge have been zealous and skilful men, indefatigable in the discharge of their duties; and they, in addition to their reports against this ration, have also represented in the strongest mauner the wretched hospital accommodations for the prisoners. There are always a considerable number of patients under treatment, and a large proportion of these usually dysenteric ones. The building used for them is altogether dis- graceful. Other buildings have been erected: an elegant and spacious house for the Commandant, houses for the various officers, admirable military barracks and hospital, commissariat stores, &c.; but the convict hospital has been, in spite of remonstrances, allowed to remain literally "a whited sepulchre." Nor is the gaol a whit better. It was originally a badly-built public-house, and upon the resumption of the island in 1825 it was converted into a gaol. It is far too small for its present purpose, very damp, wretchedly ventilated, and altogether the most wretched place I ever visited*. It is dangerously insecure, and so constructed as to

• Str-In visiting the gaol to-day I was assailed with complaints from the prisoners confined in it, whose haggard looks proved the injurious effects of the confinement to which they are subjected. The ward No. 7 was so suffocatingly hot and offensive, that I could not remain in it many minutes; and although many of the men are in a state of entire nakedness, the perspiration ran in streams from their bodies."(Extract from a letter addressed to the Civil Commandant.)