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Q--You do not think it is a deterrent?
A-No.
Q-I suppose practically Chinamen sleep all the time?
A--All the time, and some of them will not behave themselves and shout out and give all the trouble they possibly can.
THE CHAIRMAN-If short sentence prisoners were told that if they refused to work they would have their queues cut off--do you think that would be any good? ·
A--That might be; that is another thing. There are a lot of hardened “jokers” amongst them, and they do not like to lose their queue by all accounts.
Dr. ATKINSON--They are a very difficult class of people to deal with ? WITNESS--They are.
THE CHAIRMAN--You get a lot of men with different dialects in the Gaol?
WITNESS-Yes.
Q-Do the men with different dialects herd together at all. Can they talk together?
A-They make out each other as well as they can, but there is no talking allowed. If they are heard talking, of course, they are reported.
Q-Do you have many assaults by one prisoner on another?
Q-Not so many now as formerly.
Q-Why?
A-I do not know why that is. I do not think there is so much tobacco and opium thrown over the wall as there used to be, and so much shouting and fighting with one another for it. That used to be the cause of a row.
Q-Do you think the staff there is as good as it used to be?
A-I do not.
Q-Do you think the staff there is a staff qualified to deal with prisoners?
A-I do not think so; they are not qualified the same as Europeans are. That is my opinion.
Q-Has the number of Europeans on the staff been lessened?
A-Lessened? yes; and Indians taken on instead.
Dr. ATKINSON How long has that been?
WITNESS-Before Captain LETHBRIDGE came out.
Q-It started before Captain LETHBRIDGE came out?
A-Yes.
Q-You do not know under whose governorship the Indian turnkeys were introduced?
A-I do not know, but that is the time they started-before Captain LETHBRIDGE
came out.
THE CHAIRMAN-Do you think an Indian gives more irritation to a prisoner than a European?
A-I do not think he is so fit to perform his duties as a European.
Q-Why?
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