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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 12TH NOVEMBER, 1879. 673

2. The Government was fortunate in obtaining the very valuable services, as members of this Board, of Deputy Inspector General WELLS, of the Royal Navy, and of Dr. O'BRIEN, the leading phy- sician in private practice in the Colony, two gentlemen whose great experience and professional skill command the confidence of the whole community.

3. Owing to the ill-health of Dr. WELLS for three months, and to the desirability of watching for a considerable period the physical condition of certain prisoners and the wounds that had been caused by floggings, the enquiry has been of necessity somewhat protracted. As the Government printers had other work on hand the printed copies of the report only reached me this month.

4. Unfortunately, on account of the imperfect statistics hitherto kept in the gaol, and for other reasons given by the Board, they seem to have had but little to guide them in the solution of the question whether flogging on the back, in the case of Chinese prisoners, has produced phthisis. They

say:-

Apart from the questions put by us to the Colonial Surgeon, and the examination of the four men who had been flogged on the back, with imperfect statistics, we have little to guide us in the "solution of the main question 'does flogging on the back produce phthisis?''

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5. As to the special report Lord CARNARVON desired to obtain respecting the health of YEUNG-A- MAU, who was flogged in November, 1876, and LEUNG-A-LOI, who was flogged for the third time in March, 1877, as the former had left the prison the Board were unable to see him, and as to the latter, they find that he is suffering from phthisis, but they are not prepared either to assert or to deny that the disease was induced or developed by the floggings he received. Their words are--

"We find that LEUNG-A-LOI is suffering from phthisis, but we are not prepared to assert, neither "do we deny, the possibility that the disease in him was induced or developed by the floggings he received."

6. In its relation no doubt to pulmonary disease, the Board make the following observation on the important question of the air space in the cells:-

"In regard to the air space, we find that in the cells where many prisoners are locked up together "for the night, instead of at least from 1,000 to 1,200 cubic feet per man, the allowance is actually only from 482 to 775, and even bearing in mind the fact of only barred gates separating the cells from the corridors, we do not consider the air space and ventilation what it should be."

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The figures quoted by the Board from Dr. AYRES' evidence (as he subsequently explains in his minute of the 15th October, 1878), represented the average cubic space of all the cells in the gaol, including those for Europeans, who are placed in comparatively commodious cells; and from the en- closed return of the measurement made in May 1877 of the cells where the Chinese prisoners are confined in association, the air space for the Chinese (184 to 221 cubic feet at the end of 1876) is far less even than the average allowance the Board think insufficient. For instance, the prisoner LEUNG A-LOI, about the time that he was flogged, had been confined in a cell in which he had only 221 cubic feet of air space. As Dr. WELLS and Dr. O'BRIEN think that the average cell space of the whole prison, 482 to 775, is not what it should be, and that each prisoner should have at least from 1,000 to 1,200 cubic feet of air space in this climate, it is manifest that the pulmonary disease from which LEUNG A-LOI now suffers, and which led to the deaths last year of Moк A-KWAI and WONG A-KWAI, may not be entirely unconnected with the insufficient accommodation in the prison.

7. It is satisfactory to notice that the Board speak well of the dry earth system which was recently introduced, and of the way the prison discipline is now enforced.

8. Whilst recording their opinion that the evidence submitted to them respecting the effect in producing phthisis of flogging Chinese on the back was most inconclusive, they say the action of Dr. AYRES, the Colonial Surgeon, in bringing the matter under official notice, was 'most commendable."

may here answer an inquiry made by the Earl of CARNARVON in the despatch of January 1878.

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"I should wish to be informed," his Lordship says, "whether Dr. AYRES has ever, during his 'previous years of service, brought these facts to the notice of the Government, and if not, you will "desire him to explain why he has not done so."

A reference to one of the enclosures in Governor Sir ARTHUR KENNEDY'S despatch of the 28th February, 1877, shows thar Dr. AYRES brought this matter under official notice a few years ago. In his evidence before the Gaol Commission, which was transmitted in Sir ARTHUR KENNEDY'S despatch, Dr. AYRES, on the 17th January, 1876, said :-

"I think a cane is better than a cat, and flogging on the breech. It is much more severe, and "less dangerous than when administered on the back. The men often complain of pains in the chest "and difficulty of breathing after being flogged on the back."