Sessional_Paper_1932 — Page 61

57

three cities. The Superintendent stated that had he a properly laid out gaol he could look after treble the number of prisoners with practically the same staff. But against this it has to be borne in mind that in Shanghai down to 1928, under infinitely worse conditions. than obtained in Hong Kong, the prison staff was far less than it is in Hong Kong, and now with the new gaol in Shanghai, is less still.

*

2. The Commissioners have already reported to Government their views on the necessity of building a new gaol, but they wish once again to stress the important point that the site of the prison should not be on valuable land, nor on land difficult, and there- fore expensive, to develop. In view of this Government should approach the Air Ministry as to the possibility of the utilization of the original site at Ngau Shi Wan, where some three lakhs has already been spent in piling. Failing this, the piece of land lying in the next bay to the east should be considered. It is capable of easy development, has a water supply, and would allow of all transport being handled from the sea. It is essential that the Police Training School should be nearby.

3. The existing plans of the new prison also need to be thoroughly revised in the light of modern prison construction. The Commissioners were not impressed with the lay out. It must be remembered that it is cheaper both in cost of construction and of staff, besides making for greater efficiency in the control of the prison, to build one tall building, as is done successfully elsewhere, than to build several low ones. Accommodation is made. for sixty European warders. As has already been stated, there can be no necessity for this number; doubly so when the Police Training School is alongside. Furthermore, the accommodation such as it is, is not suitable for European warders living in a hot climate. The number of married men at present is twenty-four, and it does not seem reasonable to suppose that a man, wife and, say, two children, can be put in a two roomed flat.

4. Even allowing for the unsatisfactory lay out and condition of Victoria and Laichi- kok prisons the Commissioners are of the opinion that the European warder staff should be reduced by one Principal Warder and nine Warders. The Superintendent stated that this reduction could be effected with some loss of security, if the number of prisoners in each of the halls at Laichikok were increased from sixty-seven to seventy-four. This should be done. At the same time he requested that he be allowed to engage twenty Indian Guards in place of the ten Europeans. As the initial salary of a Guard is only $240 per annum the Commissioner agree to this being done. It will tend to allay the fears of the Superintendent, which however the Commissioners are satisfied are un- founded. They fail to see where the loss of security arises, subject to what is said in the next paragraph as to the type of Indian now employed.

5. The proportion of Europeans to Indians is far too high. The reason for this, according to the Superintendent, is the fact that the latter are not sufficiently reliable to be put in charge of parties. In Shanghai the Indian gaol staff do this work. It would seem therefore that the Indian warder in Shanghai is better material than he is in Hong Kong. This is most likely due to the method of recruitment. Shanghai recruits its gaol staff in India; Hong Kong engages them locally, which perhaps means that all those Indians who have been dismissed from other employment find their way into the Prisons service. The Hong Kong Police recruit their Indians in India, and obtain a satis-- factory type of man. Arrangements should be made for the Prisons Department to recruit there at the same time. It should then be possible largely to replace by Indians: European warders, whose numbers will in any case be reduced on the completion of the new gaol.

6. At present acting pay is granted to Indian prisons officers if they act in a post higher than their own, even if only for one day. The minimum qualifying period for acting pay should be four months, the same as it is for other Government Departments. The saving effected would not be very great, but it would relieve the Superintendent and the Treasurer of a certain amount of "paper" work.

7. There do not appear to be adequate reasons for the employment of two European hospital supervisors. One post should be abolished.

8. The Trades Instructors, Chinese, of whom there are three, have not apparently proved a satisfactory experiment. Two of the posts should be abolished.

*Not reproduced.