'ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY, FOR THE YEAR 1862-63’ [‎70v] (136/266)

appendix to judicial report.
[Bombay]
discouragement at their labours in introducing certain branches of industry ; in teaching
the long-term convicts the necessary amount oi initial knowledge ; in incurring expen
diture in the purchase of material and machinery; being suddenly frustrated by the best
men in the Jail being transferred to road gangs, and uncertainty by the veiy fact that
many of their efforts have already been rendered abortive by such transfers.
37. Should it be the intention of Government to continue the system of out-door
labour initiated in 1861, I would very respectfully, but earnestly, implore Government to
pause ere perpetuating what appears to be in my humble judgment a retrograde
system of prison discipline, and from results * hitherto obtained, one devoid alike of
financial and, I will venture to affirm, of sanitary advantages. In Bengal it has been
distinctly proved by Dr. Mouat, in a recent communication to Government, of which
a copy has been forwarded to me by the author, that in-door labourers are far healthier
than those employed out of doors on public works,f and 1 have little doubt from inves-
tio-ations now on Lot that a like result will be shown to obtain in this presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. .
38. In the event, however, of Government having arrived at the determination
of prosecuting public works by means of convict labour, I would respectfully suggest
that there be a Public Works Jail, that from it alone drafts for public works gangs be
selected, and that the other Jails be left free to carry out the system of intramural dis
cipline and labour unembarrassed by calls for the best and most skilful convicts for
other purposes.
39. To base arguments in favour of public works convict gangs in this country on
the precedent of Portland, Portsmouth, and Chatham, appears to me scarcely legitimate;
for these institutions are bona fide public works prisons, with a staff of governor, chaplains,
medical officers, schoolmasters, scripture-readers, and subordinate establishment complete
as Pentonville, and I believe more carefully selected. The rigid discipline of the prison
is as much enforced in any of the former as at the model prison. No illicit indulgences,
no clandestine meetings with friends, no ill-constructed huts or unserviceable tents, no
exposure to malarious influences, no lashing together with connecting chains, no absence
of discipline are there to be met with ; all is order and regularity in their strictest forms
within walls and enclosures, and almost as much separation from the outside world as in
the prison cells at Pentonville.
40. To carry out the suggestion made above, should Government be pleased to
adopt it, I would propose that all the convicts composing two gangs in North Canara
be concentrated on works at Suclasewghur to preserve them from the malarious influence
of the jungle country, where, it appears, one gang at least is at present at work; that all
convicts at Ilonore whose sentences exceed one month be sent to Sudasewghur; that
should it be found, after the expiration of the sentences of all those now composing the
No.th Ganaia gangs, that the criminal statistics of the zilla would not yield a sufficient
number ot convicts to carry on the works required by Government, those of three
months sentences from the Belgaum zilla be forwarded to the Public Works prison at
Sudasewghui, where a new and suitable Jail should be as early as possible constructed,
the Konoie Jails being abandoned and sold on the completion of that at Sudasewghur.
thost uiuum.
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