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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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2PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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forward the Report of the Superintendent of the Convict Prison for the year 1873, and in a despatch, No. 150, of the 7th of August. I forwarded the Report of the Committee of the Court of Policy, appointed early last year, with the consent of the Earl of Kimberley, to consider the question of removing the convicts altogether from Massaruni. which his Lordship had directed.

2. 'Your Lordship has been pleased to allow the question of the removal of the prisoners to stand over for the present, and to approve of the measures for enlarging the prison which I had suggested, but in assenting to this your Lordship, recalling the past history of Massaruni and the danger of mismanagement in a penal establishment so remote from the seat of Government, added that you could not cease to regard the records of past mismanagement and past atrocities as affording ground of anxiety for the future,"

3. I know the heavy responsibility that I have incurred in recommending the retention and enlargement of the convict establishment of Massaruni, and I have watched with great care its management. It has been visited and inspected from time to time, and I inclose copies of three of the fullest reports which have been made to me of such inspections. These reports were made by Mr. Young, Government Secretary, Mr. Haynes Smith, the Attorney-General, and Mr. W. B. Pollard, the Auditor-General, who visited the Settlement successively, in the months of October, November, and December last. I have noted in the margin of these reports the steps which have been taken to remedy the evils pointed out, or to effect the improvements suggested by the visitors, and I trust that a perusal of these reports will appear to your Lordship to justify the confidence which I have placed in the present Superintendent, Mr. Sealy.

4. I, myself, paid a visit to the Settlement in December, accompanied by Colonel Mould, R.E, Judge Fitzgerald, of Trinidad, and the Colonial Civil Engineer. My principal object in this last visit was to decide upon the site of some additional buildings about to be erected for the accommodation of warders and officers of the prisons. My visit was necessarily a brief one, but I was satisfied with the good order and cleanliness of the prison buildings, and with the discipline, which appeared to be maintained with firmness, and without undue harshness.

5. In my despatch, inclosing the report of the Committee of the Court of Policy on Massaruni, I stated that I agreed in most of the recommendations of the Committee. and that I should take an early opportunity of reporting the steps taken to carry them out, I now wish to lay before your Lordship a short statement of what has been done.

6. The fundamental condition for ensuring the maintenance of good order and management at a Penal Settlement so remote from the sent of Government must, of course. be frequent and efficient supervision. On this point I entirely concur in the views of the Commissioners. I agree with them also in their view of the comparative uselessness of the old system of inspection by Commissioners, the "times of whose visits were always known beforehand, while the visits themselves were too short, and from the number of Commissioners there was no individual responsibility" (paragraph 10 of the Report), *

7. In place of this inefficient inspection the Committee recommend that the Settlement should be visited at irregular intervals by a salaried officer, who, under the name of a director or inspector of prisons, should exèreise in all the gaols and prisons of the Colony the powers of an inspector of prisons (paragraphs 12 and 13.)

8. No provision was made for such an officer in the estimates of 1874, and I have not therefore been able to carry out the recommendation of the Committee to its full extent. But I have adopted their suggestion so far as to entrust the inspection of the settlement at irregular intervals to a single responsible officer of high standing, instead of to a number of inspectors without individual responsibility.

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9. I feel some hesitation in accepting the recommendation of the Committee for the appointment of a salaried inspector from a fear that it might, if fully carried out, lead to a conflict of authority. The Committee contemplate the appointment of an officer who should be "responsible to the Government for the proper working" of the penal settlement. Now it appears to me to be impossible to hold any officer responsible for the proper working of the penal Settlement, unless he has power to enforce his orders, and it appears to me that the practical effect of the contemplated appointment would be to annihilate the independent authority of the superintendent. I do not think this desir- able, such an arrangement would in fact substitute the responsibility of the inspecting officer, who can at the utmost visit Massaruni two or three times in a month, for the responsibility of the superintendent, who as the chief resident Executive Officer of the Penal Settlement should be held directly responsible to the Government for all he does; and, viewing the question for a moment from a more personal point of view, I do not

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think it would be possible to find in the whole Colony an officer who has had so much experience of prison discipline, as it is carried on in English prisons, as the present superintendent, Mr. Sealy, has had.

10. In my opinion the inspecting officer should be held responsible only for the proper duties of inspection, as defined by the ordinances and rules now in force, leaving to the superintendent the responsibility which properly belongs to his office, and, taking this view, I do not see any objection to the inspection of the Settlement being made by different officers on different occasions, provided always that one responsible officer inspects the Settlement at a time, and that he makes a written report to the Government of his inspection. It would, I think, be an advantage to the Government to receive the views of different officers, whose opinions would be valuable if they were competent men, and with regard to the competency of the present inspectors of prisons, I may note here that every member of the Board of Prisons is er officio a director of prisons, and has the same power as an inspector of prisons (Ordinance 12 of 1862, section 38). Among the members of the Board of Prisons are the Government Secretary, the Attorney-General, the Auditor-General, the Police Magistrate of Georgetown, Mr. Brumell, the Inspector- General of Police, and the Colonial Civil Engineer, six of the Stipendiary Magistrates also are inspectors of prisons by special appointment, so that there need seldom be any difficulty in nominating a competent inspecting oflicer to visit the Settlement.

11. I have dwelt at some length on this question because it is of vital importance to the good Government of the penal Settlement. It would be impossible to be sure that the prisoners are properly treated and discipline maintained without frequent inspection, and inspection should be of a kind which should support and not detract from the just authority of the superintendent.

12. The Committee recommended (paragraph 14) that a small steamer should be attached to the Settlement to enable the inspecting officer the better to perform his duty. I made a similar suggestion myself in my despatch No. 115, of the 4th of July last. But a better knowledge of local circumstanees leads me to believe that this recommendation cannot be carried out without a very much greater expenditure than the occasional nature of the service would justify. The strong currents and tides met with on the coast between the mouth of the Demerara River and that of the Essequebo River, and in the Essequebo River itself, can be stemmed only by a steamer of great power. A small steamier would be of little use (an illustration of this will be found in the Attorney- General's report annexed), and a large one would be too expensive to purchase and work; moreover, the existing contract for the Colonial Mail Service provides for the performance of such services as visiting Massaruni at certain specified rates which do not exceed the probable cost of working a Government steamer, and as the contract has eleven years to run, it is not necessary to entertain the question at present.

13. The Committee recommended (paragraphs 15 and 16) that the subordinate officers of all the Colonial prisons, including Massaruni, should form a general prison staff, wearing a common uniform, and liable to be transferred from the service of one prison to that of another prison. I entirely concur in these recommendations, which are in sub- stance similar to those submitted in my despatch No. 115 of the 4th of July, and approved of by your Lordship. The uniforms have been ordered and some transfers have been already made. But before the system can be fully carried out it will be requisite to provide additional accomodation for the prison officers both at Massaruni and at other prisons in the County where the officers cannot hire lodgings for their families.

14. The Committee refer (paragraph 17) to the want of room for the warders at Massaruni, and as this is a very urgent want, I have directed the immediate construction of six cottages close to the prison, in a site recommended by Mr. Sealy, the cost of which will be inserted in the estimates for 1875.

15. The Committee recommended that the police employed at the Settlement should be recalled, and guards under the exclusive control of the superintendent employed instead. This recommendation was carried into effect some time ago, and on my late visit to Massaruni, Mr. Sealy ex¡ ressed himself to me as highly satisfied with the result of the change.

16. It will be evident to your Lordship from the report of the Committee and also from a perusal of the inclosed reports of inspection, that there are many improvements still required before the penal Settlement can be pronounced in an entirely satisfactory state, but I believe good progress has been made, and is still being made, in improving the

condition of the convicts.

17. As regards the site of the Settlement, I agree with Mr. Young, the Government Secretary, in thinking it has been happily chosen. I have traversed the sea coasts of Demerara and Essequebo, and much of that of Berbice. I have ascended the Berbice,

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