Sessional_Paper_1920 — Page 45

41

HONGKONG.

No.

1920

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO INVESTIGATE CERTAIN MATTERS CONNECTED WITH THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE VICTORIA GAOL.

Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor, 17th June, 1920.

Report of a Committee consisting of the Honourable Mr. H. E. POLLOCK, K.C., Chairman, the Honourable Mr. R. O. HUTCHISON, M.B.E., and the Honourable Mr. Ho Fook, appointed by His Excellency the Governor to report upon the following subjects in connection with the Victoria Gaol, namely:

(a) as to whether there is any foundation for the statements made by the con-

victed man, Wong Kwong;

(b) as to any matters connected with the murders or the escape of the prisoners

that the Committee think should be brought to notice;

(c) as to the steps necessary to be taken to prevent similar incidents in future; (d) generally on any point in which the Committee consider that the gaol admin-

istration can be improved.

1. The Committee have held several sittings in Mr. Pollock's office and have made four visits to Victoria Gaol, three by daylight, and one after dark, and have examined Mr. Franks, Dr. Woodman, Dr. Valentine, Chief Warder Passmore, Principal Warder Robertson, and the convicted man, Mok Sing, as witnesses; and have also inspected at the Central Police Station the exhibits in the Victoria Gaol murder trial.

2. With regard to the statements of Wong Kwong,

(a) We are clearly of opinion that there is no foundation whatever for the allegations of the prisoner as to insufficient feeding. On the contrary, Dr. Woodman and Dr. Valentine informed us that they are of opinion that the food allowed by the Regulations is sufficient and a list (com- piled between May and September, 1919) of the respective weights of prisoners (whose sentences varied from 1 to 12 months) on their admis- sion and discharge respectively, shows, on the average, a slight gain in weight, the average gain in weight being greater in the case of long sentence prisoners than in those with short sentences. We also inspected the rations distributed to prisoners and found that they were apparently in order and wholesome.

(b) As regards the allegations about cigarettes and tobacco being brought into the gaol, we gather that this does happen occasionally and is difficult to prevent. We strongly recommend that the gaol regulations be amended for the purpose of making it legal for any officer of the gaol, below a certain rank, to be searched under European supervision upon entering and leaving the gaol.

(c) With regard to the allegations of Wong Kwong as to unnatural offences inside the gaol, it is impossible for us to obtain any satisfactory evidence. We feel bound to condemn the system which existed, during the recent shortage of staff, of the search of Chinese cells by Indian Warders only,

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