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A--I have only seen one case which showed any signs of faintness.
Q-Have you seen much erysipelas in the Gaol hospital?
A-I never saw a case of erysipelas after these floggings.
The Chairman-As the result of flogging?
WITNESS No.
Q-Supposing a prisoner who left the Gaol hospital after a flogging tore off the bandage that was on his wounds and slept a night in a street in Taipingshan, what do you think would be the likely result?
A-There are hundreds of men in the Calcutta Courts-possibly there would be two hundred men flogged in a day-and they go away, and they have just the sort of native quarters there as here barring they are mat huts and so on; but the atinos- phere is so bad in the Central Hospital there-just in the middle of the native quarters before the introduction of antiseptics-that they were not able to operate all the summer time. Still if septicemia had been common it must have attracted public attention and exposure. I never heard of any fatal cases from such causes.
Q-Supposing a man had an abscess which formed after a flogging and he was sent out of Gaol with the bandages upon him-the abscess being properly dressed--and on the very same day he tore off these bandages and slept a night in a street in Tai- pingshan, do you not think that would-
A-That would probably result in septicemia. Under the circumstances I would recommend him to be sent to the hospital.
Dr. ATKINSON--Of course, it is possible to absorb the germs from any open wounds?
A-Of course.
THE CHAIRMAN-Is there anything else you would like to tell us, Dr. AYRES, about flogging-about the supervision necessary during flogging, or the nature of the certificates which are given, or the nature of the attendance in the hospital, or any subject you would like to mention ?
A-The hospital has been drawn attention to dozens of times, but there is no other place to use. If there are to be hospital quarters, of course, they have got to be built; there is no other place in the Gaol that you can now use for hospital quarters. We had these two large wards at the time the Yesso blew up; they are now all full up with sixty cells or more.
Dr. ATKINSON-Do you think it advisable to have trained European warders in the hospital?
A-Yes. But we have always had to put up with makeshifts. We have educated them ourselves.
Q-Of course the work is monotonous?
A--Not only monotonous, but the hours are very long, and the atmosphere from the buckets at night is terribly offensive. Go there at 4.30 in the morning and you will understand what I mean.
Q-You think trained warders would be an improvement?
A-Certainly, it is the only way I see out of it. The Medical Officer should not be responsible for accidents occurring if there is nobody in attendance to see that an order is properly carried out and knows nothing of what is being given, or anything else, and hardly knows sufficient to tell whether the medicine is a lotion or to be given as a dose. That is what it means as regards attendance at the Gaol.
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