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A-Yes.
Q-From what you stated just now I gathered you considered that prisoners passed by the Medical Officer for hard labour were unfit to do it. You mean their physique is not sufficient, in your opinion, to admit of their doing the hard labour pre- scribed in the Gaol ?
A-Oh, certainly not.
Q---I think you said the physique of the prisoners had deteriorated lately?
A-Yes.
Q-And the hard labour is too severe for them considering their physique ?
A-No, I would not go so far as to say that.
THE CHAIRMAN--You merely gave that as the cause why there were more floggings for refusal to work?
WITNESS--Yes, that is all; they find the work much more irksome, but I do not say that any man has been passed as being fit for hard labour when he has been physi- cally unfit for it.
Dr. ATKINSON--Does it not strike you that the hard labour is too severe for a China- man-12,500 revolutions of the crank for an ordinary Chinaman? Do you not think that it is rather hard work-an extraordinary task?
WITNESS-I do not think it is an extreme task. The task at home is 14,500 revolutions at 14 lbs. pressure. The task here is 12,500 revolutions with a 12 lbs. pressure. I have known a man finish his task by one o'clock in the day. Stone carry- ing certainly cannot be considered hard work. They carry 90 lbs. between two men. The weight of the shot-the No. 1 shot-is 24 lbs.
Q-Is the crank lessened during the summer months ?
A-No; no labour is changed during the summer months.
THE CHAIRMAN-From what you say of the number of revolutions and the pressure at the cranks the labour of a man here would be represented by 150 as against 203 by a man in England-by about three to four?
A--I have not worked it out; I suppose it comes that,
Q--It comes to about three to four.
Dr. ATKINSON--Have you ever informed the Governor that the punishment of deprivation of the evening meal was insufficient?
WITNESS-No. I have never had the slightest occasion to think that the punish- ments which I inflicted for refusing to labour were not in accordance with the Regula-
tions.
THE CHAIRMAN-Is there anything more you would like to tell us on any subject at all in connection with flogging? We shall be very glad to hear any comments you would like to make.
one.
A--I think that the Medical Officer's position at the flogging is a very responsible The Medical Officer is there to see that the prisoner suffers no bodily harm from the punishment which is being inflicted. He has passed the prisoner as fit to receive punishment, and I suppose if he considers it necessary he would take the prisoner down.
Hon. Commander HASTINGS-Do you suggest that one doctor should pass him and that another one should see him flogged?
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