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Q-Of course; the Rules here specifically provide for the offences which shall be punished by flogging, and it is not the most trivial offences that may be punished by flogging. One of the questions before us is, what offences under these Rules are really punishable by flogging.
A-Really they are getting of terribly frequent occurrence, I saw three fellows up this morning; two fellows were up yesterday.
Q-What were they being flogged for ?
A—I do not know anything about it.
Q-During the time that you were in charge of the Gaol did you notice any large variations in the number of floggings according to which Superintendent was there?
A-We very rarely had floggings in the Gaol in my time. If we had twenty or thirty a year it was as much as we had.
Q-Can you give us any idea of the yearly floggings in your time-roughly speaking?
A-I cannot.
Q-Do you think they exceeded one hundred a year-occurring about two a week? A-It is too far back. There ought to be some record. My recollection is that flogging was comparatively rare.
Dr. ATKINSON-It would be in your medical reports?
WITNESS They would not give the number of floggings.
THE CHAIRMAN-What is your opinion about the hospital accommodation at the Gaol?
WITNESS The hospital has been, to my knowledge, considered by every Commis- sion appointed over the Gaol. Plans and measurements are in the books in 1890. There is no doubt it is overcrowded and it is not a place fit for a Gaol, many as seven prisoners in one cell sometimes.
There are as
Q-Suppose a man came into the Gaol hospital after suffering a flogging of twenty-four strokes and an abscess developed and blood poisoning followed from the abscess, do you think there is anything in the conditions of the Gaol hospital to produce the blood poisoning?
A-Overcrowding; but if antiseptics are properly used I do not see there is any necessity for that even with the overcrowding. That is the principal object-protecting the wound from the bad atmosphere.
Q-In your opinion do abscesses naturally form as the result of a severe flogging? A-They will occasionally. You cannot say why; it may be something in the blood or afterwards introduced into the wound.
Q-Have you ever stopped a flogging ?
A-Yes.
Q-For what reasons?
A-The appearance of the man, A man has fainted under a flogging. If he showed any signs of fainting I stopped the flogging immediately.
Q-Would you stop a flogging, give him a rest, and let him be flogged again?
A-Not unless I thought he was shamming.
Q-Have the flogging officers ever lost their temper?
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