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Q-Anything past twelve strokes.
A-No, I do not think so. If a man's buttocks are examined and his physical condition and so on, and he is passed for twelve strokes, I do not think it is a likely result. It would be very exceptional. I would say that not more than ten per cent. of them would develop abscesses, if so much as that.
Q--Would the result of a flogging of eighteen strokes almost necessarily be abrasions and abscesses ?
A--Abrasions, yes, but not necessarily abscesses.
Q-I take it you look upon abscesses as an accident?
A -As an accident.
Q-Do you think that blood poisoning might be caused by the use of a dirty rattan ? A-Yes, it might.
Q-Or by the use of the rattan employed upon another prisoner not properly clean ?
A-Yes, it might.
Q--Would every flogging?
you advise as an extra precaution the using of an unused rattan at
A-Yes, it is a mild expense. They are very cheap and certainly very useful. I was examining the rattans this morning and I think sometimes they get frayed. Instead of being smooth they get long irregularities and perhaps it might be the rough surface coming down on the skin that produced a large amount of abrasions. I certainly think a stock of rattans ought to be kept and as soon as one is used it should be destroyed.
Q-Dr. MARQUES said that the rattans were dipped or soaked before they were applied to a prisoner.
Dr. ATKINSON-He said they might be.
A--He must have meant they mght be; they are not soaked.
THE CHAIRMAN-Do you think that blood poisoning might be caused by the absorption by one prisoner of the germs of a scrofulous or syphilitic prisoner, whether in the hospital or not?
A-It might possibly.
Q-Do you think it likely in that Gaol ?
A-Not very likely.
Q-Would an opium smoker be fit to undergo hard labour? I mean a confirmed opium smoker-a man who has been smoking fifteen years.
A-No, I think not. From what I have seen of them they come into the hospital for three or four days.
Q-Are they fit to be put on penal diet for any period?
A-Yes, I think so.
Q-Would they ever be fit to receive a flogging?
A-In some cases I should think they would.
Q-Generally speaking, do you think that, in the case of a man who is an inveterate opium smoker, it would be right to administer a flogging at any time?
A-It is rather difficult to say. They seem to suffer from the effect of their opium being cut off. They nearly all of them come into the hospital for three or four days, and most of them are in a good condition and go on hard labour. A few of them would run on to hard labour and on to flogging.
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