THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 22en NOVEMBER, 1878. 561
ting breezes are enjoyed in any part of the town than on the site of Victoria Gaol. The building itself is a comparatively new one. It contains, perhaps, every improvement that a modern Gaol is expected to possess, with the solitary exception that it was not designed for prisoners under the new system called the separate system. Well, that system has yet to be tried. I- think it is one which recommends itself as being in all probability the most deterrent mode of confinement which can be applied to prisoners. Victoria Gaol also fortunately possesses, although it was not designed for it, a number of cells that might be converted into separate cells for prisoners. At the present time there are twenty-four of these cells completed. There are also twenty-four in course of completion; these make 48, and I understand that in the course of a few months the number might be very readily brought up to between 70 and 80, which would represent a very large percentage of the prisoners in the Gaol, because it is not, I presume, intended that all the prisoners should be confined in separate cells- prisoners, for example, undergoing short sentences. The site is capable of an extension which, I believe, would admit, in the event of new wings being added to the present structure, of an addition perhaps of wards for 250 prisoners. The site of the Magistracy, which is adjacent, is large, while the piece of ground which was bought not very long ago opposite the Hospital might also be taken into consideration. That piece of land, I notice, has the houses in ruins, tumbling down, and unutilised. Such an extension of the Gaol would not be an overcrowding of the site. As I have said, the position of the site would prevent anything of the kind. I conceive, Sir, though Sir MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH, the Secretary of State for the Colonies for the time being, may consider that the Gaol is in the centre of a town, in à densely populated part of the City, it is our duty, I conceive, Sir, it is your duty, to give everyone who takes an interest in this question the plain, unprejudiced, and real truth that, in regard to the site, there is no better in the Island for sanitary purposes. Now, I come to a consideration of the question whether the Gaol is fully adapted at the present time to the ordinary requirements of the Colony, having regard to the great number of criminals who have to be imprisoned. The returns, which I received to-day, show that though there have been occasionally times when the Gaol was densely crowded, or what I should consider unduly crowded-it would be if all the prisoners were European-still there had been times when the numbers had been 305, 357, 340, 333, 353, and 352, and that not for one year, but a series of years. I have not had time to analyse the figures quite accurately, but they have been frequently for a long period together. Curiously enough, whenever there has been in Hongkong an impression that the Executive power is deficient in energy, that the experience of the past is forgotten, that the laws which that experience has caused this legislature to pass have been disregarded, that night passes are ignored, that lanterns are no longer in use, and that thieves, criminals, and others can roam about the town, advantage is taken of it and we find the criminal class increasing. I find that in January, 1876, on the second day of that month there were in Gaol 383; February, 390; March, 373; April, 367; May, 363; June, 414; July, 391; August, 414; September, 426; October, 521; November, 541; December, 516; January, 1877, 451; February, 420; March, 358; April, 339; May, 340; June, 360; July, 339; August, 378; September, 408; October, 405; November, 461; December, 421; then in January of the present year, 433; February, 493; March, 476; April, 550-it should not be forgotten that there was a large delivery in December; in one day 30 prisoners were liberated, I presume, from their time having expired-May, 539; June, 493; July, 494; August, 547; September, 569; October, 524; November, 4th, 517, and November 18th, 519. You will observe that during the greater part of this year there has been a considerable increase in the number of prisoners in the Gaol. One cause of this, I think-although your Excellency did not ink so before, I was happy to see that on Monday last your Excellency attached some importance to--is the low fares on the Canton boats. These low fares have always, in my opinion, had some effect on the increase of crime here. Your Excellency was of a different opinion at one time—-—-
His EXCELLENCY.-No, not entirely of a different opinion. What I mentioned before was that I did not believe the cheap fares from Canton were the "sole cause of the increase of crime here; I said it was not entirely due to that.
Honourable W. KESWICK.-I am glad your Excellency has explained that, because it has removed a misapprehension on my part. These figures do not indicate that the Gaol is insufficient for the requirements of our criminal population, and I believe it is possible, by a vigorous punishment of prisoners, to gradually reduce their number. We should not forget, and I think it is an important matter which should be invariably insisted upon in correspondence with England, that this Colony is not as it were a part of the Territory of Great Britain. It is not an Island in Mid-ocean where the criminal class could be dealt with within our own borders, but it is an Island small enough to be termed a rock, within a stone's throw of Kwangtung, a Province which of all others is noted for the turbulence of its inhabitants. Well, it should not be forgotten either that the Chinese who come here would be very differently treated in their own country. I maintain that we make our Gaol too comfortable; the prisoners are too well fed, too well cared for in every respect. It must be an inducement to many of them who are starving on the mainland to come here, commit some petty crime, and be imprisoned. Compared with anything they have ever enjoyed in their lives, it is a sort of paradise. I should mention, with regard to the Gaol, there was an opinion given some years ago, I think it was in 1866, by a Governor of Macao who visited Hongkong. He states:-
"I visited this prison, and it appears to me that England, with her spirit of charity and civilization, has not forgotten to unite in this establishment the conditions which, without breach of the end proposed by the institution, are the most salutary to the existence of criminals, severity, work, and possible comfort-such are the features that strike one on inspec- tion of this Gaol. England is civilising even in her prisons. There is always something to be learned in visits made to establishments of Great Britain; such is the impression which I carry with me of my visit to the Goal of the British Colony." Such was the impression stated by the Governor of Macao. Well, the opinion of the Governor of Macao in 1866 has been the opinion I have heard expressed by many visitors to this Colony who have seen our Gaol. I have heard but one opinion on this subject. Only the other day I mentioned to a gentleman who had gone through the Gaol that there was a project to close it and place the Gaol on Stone Cutter's Island, that it was thought insufficient in accommodation, that the air was too confined in the cells, there was not space enough for the prisoners. He did not believe I was in earnest. said "It cannot be, you are joking. It is impossible surely that such an idea has been broached in the Colony or at home. It should be the duty of those in authority to inform correctly the Colonial Office." I think it is the opinion of every one who has gone through the Gaol. The corridors and cells are in summer the coolest and best ventilated places in the Colony. I have been frequently in it, and I must admit I have been in no more comfortable place in summer. The cells are not hermetically sealed; there is a current of air through all of them. They are superb places for the criminal to reside
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