THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 4TH JUNE, 1879.
295
that when the breathing space has been limited to that extent I think it not at all unlikely the phthisis from which this man suffers may be quite as attributable to that fact as to the flogging on the back, perhaps even more so, and in connection with the subject I take the opportunity now of mentioning a despatch of really very great importance which has not been laid before this Council, but which I shall take the opportunity of printing. It was a despatch written by Lord CARNARVON to my predecessor, Sir RICHARD MACDONNELL, when he took the prisoners from Stone Cutters' Island and put them into the present gaol. Sir RICHARD, when he did so, spoke of his predecessor as being quixotic in his views as to the treatment of criminals. Sir RICHARD thought Chinese criminals should be treated in some peculiar way; accordingly he disapproved of Sir HERCULES' scheme and transferred the prisoners to the Gaol at Victoria. He also reported changes he had effected with respect to the punishment of Chinese prisoners. One of these despatches was one enclosing Dr. MURRAY'S report on the health of the Colony. Dr. MURRAY tells us that for the first time at all events in what may be called the modern history of the Colony, flogging with the cat had been introduced. It appears that when the Colony was established in 1841 powers were given to the Magistrates both of hanging and flogging, but that was speedily altered, and from the time British law really prevailed here up to 1865 there was no flogging with the cat on the back. Dr. MURRAY tells us how he thought it a very desirable change to introduce, and Sir RICHARD MACDONNELL reported also to Lord CARNARVON the good effect it produced. I think he mentions that at the time Dr. MURRAY's report was sent home, after having twelve months' experience of the cat upon the back, out of 570 prisoners in the gaol that year 71 had died. I don't know whether it was in any way connected with the introduction of the new mode of punishment, but the Secretary of State, Lord CARNARVON, in acknowledging the receipt of the despatch about giving up Stone Cutters' Island, says "I am inclined to think that if you transfer these prisoners to the gaol in the city of Victoria the breathing space for each prisoner in the cells will be too small and I therefore ask for further reports upon that subject." He goes on to say, "I am bound also to inform you at once that I am disposed to think that the changes you have effected in the punishment of the Chinese are too severe, and upon that subject I must also ask for further information." Well I cannot ascertain that any information as to the air space in the cells was actually sent until I myself, after my first visit to the gaol, at once reported that in my opinion the cells were too small and the air space too small.
But at the Colonial Office they had before them what we call the Blue Book, which is sent home by every Governor every year and which contains amongst other items of information asked for by the Gevernment in a printed form to be filled up, what is the cubic space in which prisoners are confined. Well, the answer was that it gave the average cubic space of all the cells in the prison including the corridors, and the result was that it amounted to something like seven or eight hundred cubic feet for each prisoner, but until I wrote my despatch of 1877 the Government were never aware that Lord CARNARVON's fears, expressed in his despatch to Sir RICHARD MACDONNELL, were literally correct and that the experiment of forcing too many prisoners into the gaol ought never to have been tried, that in point of fact we were forcing into that gaol a number of prisoners that would never have been tolerated if Her Majesty's Government had known the facts. Fortunately these gentlemen's report disposes of that. At the time they made their inquiry four men only had been flogged. What do they find? That two of these men are suffering from phthisis. The Colonial Surgeon certified they were healthy, strong men when they came into the prison. Therefore I say, as to those who are op- posing flogging on the back, it is not fair to say that the phthisis from which these men are suffering has been caused by flogging on the back; it is probably fair to say it has been caused by that evil Lord CARNARVON foresaw, namely, the evil of overcrowding. We know what it must be in winter, with every door and window closed in these cells, and I myself found on visiting the gaol when the prisoners were in the cells that the atmosphere they were breathing was something horrible. There- fore this report is of value to the Council apart from the mere question of flogging on the back. Upon that question every man is entitled to form his own opinion. A document was laid before the Com- mittee, which is printed in the appendix, which is of no small interest because it shows this question had attracted the attention of the Chinese Government more than 1,000 years ago, when one of the Emperors, who seems to have paid very proper attention to the physiological effects of flogging on the back, after a long inquiry arrived at the conclusion there ought not to be flogging on the back because it would lead to injury to the viscera. Well, when Her Majesty's Government learned that the Ordi- nance prescribed flogging with a rattan, when they learned that the cat was illegal except when ordered by the Supreme Court, and when they had further learned that throughout the whole of the Empire of China, no matter how severe their punishments may be, men are never flogged on the back, when' they know the laws have been broken, you may be quite certain they will very carefully consider be- fore they will again allow the laws of the Colony to be broken or allow a practice to be indulged in which leads to the consequences this report establishes. Well, you will say, the rattan was too lenient an instrument; if you put by the cat make that severe. -His Excellency went on to quote the report of the Committee as to the use of the rattan, referring particularly to a case in which sores caused by it did not heal properly for six months; the rattan was 47 inches long and had an average circumfer- ence of two inches. They say:—
"
65
We have examined the "regulation cat,” a “naval cat," and the "rattan used in the gaol, and find there is little difference between the "cats except the knots, which, we were informed, should be three in the gaol cat over hand" on each tail, but had not been used, smaller ones being worked on.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.