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REPORT
176
To His Excellency Sir William Robinson, Knt., C.M.G., Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony of Hongkong.
May it please Your Excellency,
We, the undersigned members of the Gaol Committee, have the honour to present to Your Excellency the following report.
OF THE
GAOL COMMITTEE.
Ipanemar
GENERAL REMARKS.
The principles on which the Gaol system in England as well as in the Colonies ought to be carried on are now so well ascertained, and have received such high sanction, that it only remains to accept them and apply them to each particular Gaol, as far as local circumstances permit.
It is now settled beyond the reach of controversy, that the primary object of punishment is to deter from crime, and that every other idea must be subsidiary to it.
Important as the mental and moral training of criminals may be, and satisfactory as it may be to make a prison self-supporting by employing prisoners in remunerative labour, these objects must be considered of secondary importance, and must be put aside if they have the effect of rendering punishments lighter, and therefore more tolerable and less deterrent.
Owing to the peculiar circumstances of this Colony, and the fact that by far the larger proportion of the criminals confined in the Gaol are Chinese, whose language is but little known to those who have charge of them, whose characters and dispositions are imperfectly understood, and of whose previous history and lives it is almost impossible to obtain any knowledge, any attempt to cultivate their higher faculties and to improve their moral condition seems hopeless.
The European prisoners undergoing long sentences are very few, the larger portion by far are soldiers and sailors imprisoned under what may be termed moderate sentences for breaches of Military and Naval discipline, and there is not time enough to give room for hope that permanent impressions can be produced by teaching and moral discipline.
The only resource is to make the life of prisoners in Gaol, and of Chinese prisoners especially, as distasteful as it can possibly be made, consistently with reason and humanity, by hard labour, hard fare, and strict physical discipline.
In the course of their investigation, the Committee have formed the opinion, that Chinese prisoners on long sentences have been fed on a scale of diet which must be a positive inducement to the majority of them to return to Gaol, so superior is it, both in quantity and quality, to the fare which the free labourer earning honest wages can command.
As to European prisoners, the majority of the Committee are of opinion, that the dietary has been too high in some respects.
In this opinion Mr. T.N. Kidd does not concur, and it is right to state that the Medical Officer agrees with him, though Mr. ToNocur is not named, it is believed that it refers to Mr. T.N. Kidd.
In the suggestions drawn up for the use of His Excellency the Governor in Council, which follow, the Committee have tried to remedy serious faults in the system, and have sought to discover what is the minimum of daily food on which a prisoner can perform the maximum of daily labour.
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REPORT
176
Mauer Jordship's mat obedient-
humble servant,
OF THE
GAOL COMMITTEE.
Ipanemar
GENERAL REMARKS.
The principles on which the Gaol system in England as well as in the Colonies ought to be carried on are now so well ascertained, and have received such high sanction, that it only remains to accept them and apply them to each particular Gaol, as far as local circumstances permit.
It is now settled beyond the reach of controversy, that the primary object of punishment is to deter from crime, and that every other idea must be subsidiary to it.
Important as the mental and moral training of criminals may be, and satisfactory as it may be to make a prison self-supporting by employing prisoners in remunerative labour, these objects must be considered of secondary importance, and must be put aside if they have the effect of rendering punishments lighter, and therefore more tolerable and less deterrent.
Owing to the peculiar circumstances of this Colony, and the fact that by far the larger proportion of the criminals confined in the Gaol are Chinese, whose language is but little known to those who have charge of them, whose characters and dispositious are imper- fectly understood, and of whose previous history and lives it is almost impossible to obtain any knowledge, any attempt to cultivate their higher faculties and to improve their moral condition seems hopeless.
The European prisoners undergoing long sentences are very few, the larger portion by far are soldiers and sailors imprisoned under what may be termed moderate senten- ces for breaches of Military and Naval discipline, and there is not time enough to give roor for hope that permanent impressions can be produced by teaching and moral disci- pline.
The only resource is to make the life of prisoners in Gool, and of Chinese prisoners especially, as distasteful as it can possibly be made, consistently with reason and luna- nity, by hard labour, hard fare, and strict physical discipline.
In the course of their investigation, the Committee have formed the opinion, that Chinese prisoners on long sentences have been fed on a scale of diet which must be a positive inducement to the majority of them to return to Gaol, so superior is it, both in quantity and quality, to the fare which the free labourer earning honest wages can command.
As to European prisoners, the majority of the Committee are of opinion, that the dietary has been too high in some respects.
In this opinion Mr. ToxNocur, who has had great experience in the results of the management of the Gaol, does not concur, and it is right to state that the Medical Officer agrees with him.
In the suggestions drawn up for the use of His Excellency the Governor in Council, which follow, the Committee have tried to remedy serious faults in the system, and have sought to discover what is the minimum of daily food on which a prisoner can perform the maximum of daily labour.
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