CO885(3-4) — Page 50

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

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that, should it be impossible to employ them as suggested above, we would further recom- mend that they should be locked up during the hours allotted for work.

5. We further consider that the present system, that of locking up numbers of boys in two associate wards from 6 P.M. to 6 A.M. is highly objectionable. It is true that the Keeper is supposed to make his rounds once or twice during the night; but practically the boys are without supervision during all those honrs; and with a view to introducing an approximation to the separate system, we propose that each of these two wards should be divided, with wooden partitions, into twenty separate cells; this would afford accommoda- tion for forty boys. There is a considerable fluctuation in the numbers confined at this prison, ranging last year from nine in June to forty-five in February; but when the forty separate cells are filled, the schoolroom would still be available, during pressure, as a temporary dormitory.

6. Even if the changes which we have suggested were carried into effect, their operations would render a commitment to the Asylum a much more serious punishment than it now is, and would, therefore, have some considerable effect in deterring juvenile offenders from repeating their offences, and so risking a return to the irksome confinement of the Asylum; but we cannot close our Report without expressing our opinion :-

1st. That much good would result were the application of the rod to juvenile offenders legalized, for first aud second convictions, and—

2nd. That, in cases of repeated convictions, the period of imprisonment to which boys should become liable ought to be very considerably extended, if anything like permanent reformation is to be expected.

We have, &c.

Sir,

(Signed)

No. G.

AUGUSTUS FREDK. GORE. J. LAWRANCE GREAVES. ARTHUR SEALY,

Colonial Office to Governor Sir Rawson J. Rawson, K.C.M.G.

Downing Street, September 7, 1875.

I AM directed by the Earl of Carnarvon to transmit to you a copy of a Report of the Commissioners on Convict Labour, which has been received from the Officer Administering the Government of Barbados, and to request that you will favour him with any bbservations which may occur to you.

W. R. MALCOLM.

I am, &c.

(Signed)

No. 7.

Memorandum by Governor Sir Rawson IV. Rawson, K.C.M.G.

THIS Commission was appointed at the request of the Assembly. It was composed of the most competent judges in the matter.

2. I agree with the Commissioners in their first recommendation. There can be no separation, and little classification in the Town Hall Prison. There is an increase of expense in keeping up two separate establishments, although most of the officers now employed in the Town Hall Prison will be required for the increased number, especially under any improved system, at Glendairy. It will also be more profitable to employ instructors in trades for an increased number of prisoners in one establishment at Glen- dairy; but it must be borne in mind that there is not much use in attempting to instruct men sentenced by magistrates to short periods of imprisonment, who form the majority of those now confined in the Town Hall Gaol.

3. I repeatedly recommended the erection of the additional accommodation at Glen- dairy, and its execution by convict labour as far as possible. I commenced the excavation of a quarry within the walls for that purpose, "I also advocated the employment of the Female Prison at Glendairy for the confinement of males under magisterial sentence, and the erection of a new Female Prison on the site of the present Lunatic Asylum, which is almost opposite to Glendairy. The two establishments might be brought under the management of one superintendent assisted by a clerk.

• No. 5.

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4. It appears to me that the Commissioners have rather undervalued the labour performed by the prisoners. The amount in money is small but the proportion to the number of prisoners is greater than it appears. The total earnings stated by the Com- missioners of 6747, 10s. 8d. in a year is equivalent to the earnings of one man in 20-224 days at 8d. a-day The total working days of 177 males, viz., 106 in the Town Hall Prison, and 71 in Glendairy, at 300 days in a year is 53,100 days. The proportion is 38 per cent. If the number of sick, infirm, under punishment, drawing water and performing various menial offices about the two prisons be taken into account, this proportion would be considerably increased. On the other hand some deduction must be made for the earnings of the women employed in washing, which I cannot separate. But on the whole it may be estimated that 40 to 45 per cent. are employed on remunerative labour, which is considerably more than "to a small extent."

5. With regard to the amount estimated as earned, 8d. is the lowest ate of daily wages for a labourer in Barbados. A large number of the convicts employed work hard, some skilfully. Their earnings would raise the average. It must also be noted that the low price of the stone broken is an unfavourable measure of the quantity of work done in this almost necessary branch of prison employment.

6. It is scarcely a matter for surprise that the labour of a small number of juveniles constantly fluctuating in person and number, and generally sentenced for a term not exceeding three months, should not be of much value to their employer, and must, therefore, be "unremunerative," when charged against the cost of their out-door superintendence.

7. The Commissioners "think that it would not be difficult, out of such materials, and with the necessary instructions and superintendence, to carry out such industries as might prove to be most profitable." But it has hitherto been found not only difficult Dut impracticable, or unprofitable, by those who have devoted their consideration to the subject; and if the seven competent gentlemen who composed this Commission, assisted by the opinions of the Governor and officers of the prisons, were not able to suggest any such industries, the difficulty is not easily to be overcome, especially as the Legislature has so often been found reluctant to vote money for the acquisition of obvious benefits, still less for those of a doubtful or prospective, or purely reformatory character.

8. Lime burning at Glendairy has been already resumed, and the cultivation of the ground around the female prison has been undertaken.

9. The further practical suggestions of the Commissioners which may at once be carried out are :—

(1) The erection of an addition to the main block at Glendairy, and the employ- ment of prisoners upon the work.

(2) The employment of the females upon washing for all public establishments. But it must be observed that they already wash for all the prisons in town, and that the Lock and General Hospitals are not under the management or control of the Government. In Jamaica the convicts wash for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company.

(3) The treadwheel ought to work a pump which is close at hand, and with which it might be connceted at a small expense; and if a public use or private market can be found for corn, bones or other material ground by the wheel, at a cost which would not entail a loss upon the working, the motive power of the wheel might be so utilized. Hitherto this has not been found practicable.

10. I agree generally with the views expressed by the gentlemen whom I requested to report on the Juvenile Prison at District B.. I recommended them to the attention of the Legislature, and some months ago I ordered that, until some radical change should be made, half of the time of the boys should be devoted to instruction within the walls.

11. The Commissioners recommend "a larger and better institution," but do not define its character beyond a reference to an Act which has remained dormant since 1861. It will require much attention and labour to devise the details of such an institution, and a considerable outlay to carry them into execution. There is no officer charged with the duty, and there is but little hope that the Legislature, which has had so many pressing pro- jected works repeatedly brought before it, and has shown itself so slow in adopting and providing for them, will entertain a new one entailing increased public expenditure for

some time to come.

September 10, 1875,

(Signed)

RAWSON W. RAWSON.

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