CO885(3-4) — Page 62

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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Reference -

C.O. 885

4 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

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the Rev. Mr. Campbell, has been able apparently to acquire considerable influence over the prisoners, not only by his age and experience, but also by his power of conversing with those prisoners who are natives of India in their own language.

20. The new wooden prison for 100 prisoners commenced last year is not yet com- pleted. The framework is finished and the roof is boarded and shingled, but the floors are not yet yet laid, nor are the divisions between the cells yet made. I have ordered it to be completed as quickly as possible. It is built of native wood, and time has necessarily been lost in allowing the wood to cure before being used.

21. There are at present 228 prisoners at Massaruni. The daily average for last year was 212. There are 197 cells, but the balance of prisoners over the number of separate cells have generally been in hospital. Occasionally, however, a few prisoners are locked at night into the corridors of the prison, where they sleep in association, under the charge of a night warder. The corridors are lighted. This arrangement is objectionable, and when the new prison is completed, I intend to order that no more than 300 prisoners shall ever be kept at Massaruni at the same time, so as to ensure there being a separate cell for every prisoner.

22. I have the honour to forward herewith six printed copies of the Report of Mr. Sealy, the Superintendent (now on leave) for the year 1874. The report gives a very detailed account of the prison staff, the state of the prison buildings, the farm and provision grounds, and the employment of prisoners. Mr. Scaly justly attributes great importance to the promotion of industry among the convicts, and his efforts have been so successful in stimulating the industry of the prisoners that the total quantity of stone quarried and delivered in 1874 exceeded 9,000 tons, being nearly four times as great as the quantity delivered in former years. Mr. Scaly estimates the value of the prisoners' labour in 1874 14,843 dollars, taking the labour at the price of 1s. a day, but it is in reality worth more than that, for the market value of the stone alone delivered > from the quarry was 11,725 dollars, and it will be seen from Mr. Scaly's tables that the work in the quarries did not absorb half the labour of the prisoners.

Mr. Sealy recommends, in his report, the employment of convicts of the first class in wood cutting, provided that they are lodged in separate cells at night on the Crown lands in the rivers where greenheart and other useful woods abound. This recommenda tion may, I think, be usefully carried out whenever the demand for stone for sea defences at and near Georgetown slackens. At present the demand, both for public works and for private, is so great that it cannot be supplied from the penal Settlement alone, and quarries have been opened by private persons on the banks of the Massaruni, opposite the prison, to meet the demand.

24. I shall endeavour to meet your Lordship's wishes by visiting the Settlement once in two months or, at least, as often as I can do so.

The

25. In order to illustrate more clearly the communication I propose to establish with Massaruni by way of Wakenaam, I attach a tracing of the map of the Colony showing the relative positions of Georgetown, Wakenaam, an Massaruni. blue line on this tracing indicates the route of the steamers now running between Georgetown and Essequebo, and the red line the route between Wakenaam and Massaruni:

I have, &c.

(Signed) J. R. LONGDEN.

TRACING from Map of British Guiana, showing relative positions of Georgetown, Wakenaam, and Massaruni.

Extracts from Rules as to Visits to Convicts at Massaruni. PRISONERS in the third class will be allowed to receive a visit of ten minutes duration at the expiration of six months in this class.

Prisoners in the second class will be allowed to receive a visit of twenty minutes duration, and both to receive and write a letter once in four months.

Prisoners in the first class will be allowed to receive a visit of half an hour, and to receive and write a letter once in three months.

(The above extract is taken from the rules as to the "Mark System" passed by Governor Sir John Scott and the Court of Policy, on the 9th April, 1872. The rules are now under re-consideration at the suggestion of the superintendent.)

J. R. L.