691330-1877-Proceedings-of-Council--12th-November- — Page 6

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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 24TH NOVEMBER, 1877.

That I am

I am asking you to vote a small sum, $1,000, for the widening of Kennedy Road. sure you will agree to most heartily. The road is a great advantage to the Colony, and will always associate with it the name of my predecessor, and by this vote we shall be assisting in making that road what it ultimately will become, a first class road. My predecessor put down a sum of $30,000 for the Central School for 1877, but a larger sum, $52,000, was spent upon the site alone, and I myself signed warrants, in addition to that sum, for $7,000, for the site of that school. I will put down $25,000, nearly the same sum as Sir ARTHUR KENNEDY, but the Secretary of State is desirous of seeing full details of the estimates, plans, and specifications of this work, before anything else is done, and in truth that is the usual course under the Colonial regulations. That Sir ARTHUR KENNEDY was justified in buying the site before preparing plans, &c., you will readily admit, because in this Colony the plans, specifications, and estimates depend very much upon the site, and accordingly, though the strict Colonial regulations require a Governor, before spending any money, to send plans of the whole project complete, I think everyone will understand there was nothing to be done, but to secure what was reported to be the best site, and then have plans prepared and submitted for Lord CARNARVON's approval before any further step was taken.

You are

Now there is another item which is mentioned, but, strictly speaking, is not in our estimates. That is, the breakwater to save the junk population in typhoons. On that I propose to spend, with the sanction of the Secretary of State, $50,000. Plans have been prepared and submitted to competent Naval Authorities, amongst others to Admiral RYDER, who has given a report upon them, and these plans will be sent home at once. The project commends itself to you, I have no doubt. aware that in the last typhoon there was a serious loss of life. A considerable number of men, women, and children of the junk population perished, and the loss of life was so great that it amounted, I believe, to not much less than five thousand. Her Majesty the Queen noticed it, and She directed Lord CARNARVON to write specially to my predecessor conveying Her condolence and extreme regret for the misfortunes of Her subjects in this Colony. Indeed in that great calamity, interest was felt in every part of the British Empire. The loss of life was very sudden; the greater part must have perished, according to good authorities, in about fifty minutes during the height of the typhoon. Well, when I came to the Colony, I found that some Naval gentlemen, Captain BONHAM BAX, Commodore WATSON, and Admiral RYDER, had been in consultation with the Surveyor-General, and were all of opinion that it was possible to construct a breakwater by which the lives of these people would be saved in any heavy tyhoon. Accordingly, I looked over all back papers, consulted with the Com- modore, Captain BONHAM BAX (who I regret to say has died since), and my honourable friend the Surveyor-General, and we prepared a project which has been put before the Finance Committee. It was first submitted to a committee I nominated of competent gentlemen, who examined the whole scheme, and their report upon the breakwater was laid before the Finance Committee.

This report will also be printed, with a plan accompanying it, and the Secretary of State has written to me to say he proposes to submit the plan so prepared to Sir JOHN COODE, and on receiving his report 1 have no doubt the work will be sanctioned, and, I trust, commenced next year.

Gentlemen, I purpose to ask you to vote this year the sum of $10,000 for providing a gaol on the separate system, that is, for altering the present gaol. You are aware that soon after I came, I received a despatch from Lord CANARVON in which he pointed out the necessity for having a goal on the separate system for the repression of crime. I need not dwell on the subject. It is established clearly all over the world that the great deterrent to crime is a gaol on the separate system. My friend, Sir WILLIAM GREGORY, when first he arrived at Ceylon, said he thought the prisons of Ceylon, which were not on the separate system but on the system of associated cells, might be maintained, for he did not think it absolutely necessary for Orientals to be treated in that way; but before leaving the Colony he said he wished frankly to state that he had found by his own experience he was wrong. During his residence there he had the opportunity of making the changes insisted upon by Lord CARNARVON, and he found them most beneficial to Ceylon. He also visted India, and said, what every man is prepared to say, that the great deterrent of crime is the establishment of the separate system. Therefore, I propose to do it here. We will do as much as we can next year, and I don't apprehend we will want more for the amount of work we can get through than $10,000. The maximum number of prisoners in Gaol last year was 563 at this date, that is on the 12th November.

Now we happen to have a smaller number. It may very properly be said, in constructing the separate system we ought to provide for the maximum number, and therefore there should be 563 cells. But you

will agree with me it is desirable to have the venile offenders removed from the prison to industrial schools or reformatories of some kind; also to remove the females. Women do not require to be treated with the same severe prison discipline as men, and there is no necessity for imposing on them the separate system. The time may perhaps come when some member of my Council, one of the unofficial members connected with commerce, will be prepared to suggest that imprisonment for debt in this Colony should be abolished. There is at present but one prisoner for debt and he occupies a whole gallery of the Gaol. But that is a question I leave to my honourable friends connected with the commercial pursuits of the Colony. As the matter stands, I am providing for 500 separate cells, and that is on the assumption that the juveniles will be sent elsewhere, and we will make some provision for females.