Revision Difference

Convict Conditions

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Revision as of 01:03:32, Apr 12, 2018
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Revision as of 01:07:34, Apr 12, 2018
Edited by 101.0.82.66
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Present:
 
Present:
MR. E. W. MAYHEW. Acting Chairman.
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MR. E. W. MAYHEW, Acting Chairman.
 
Mr. M. L. Moss,          Mr. H. Stirling,
 
Mr. M. L. Moss,          Mr. H. Stirling,
 
and the Secretary.
 
and the Secretary.
  
  
William Paterson, Manager of the Agricultural Bank, examined.
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William Paterson, Manager of the Agricultural Bank, examined.
  
986. WHITHBY FALLS.—The acreage  sold by me to the Government at Whithby Falls was 1,000 acres or thereabouts. It is hilly country. There are not ten acres of flat land on it. It is more suited for fruit growing than for general agriculture. There is a slate reef running through it, also a softer stone, besides diorite and grantie. I do not know of any stone suitable for road metal there. It is good country for dairying. If you ringbark the country the streams would run the whole year, I think. You can get water anywhere by sinking. I do not, however, think the place is suitable for prisoners. It would be difficult to exercise supervision because, in two minutes, a man could be out of sight from any one point which he left behind him.
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986. WHITHBY FALLS.—The acreage  sold by me to the Government at Whithby Falls was 1,000 acres or thereabouts. It is hilly country. There are not ten acres of flat land on it. It is more suited for fruit growing than for general agriculture. There is a slate reef running through it, also a softer stone, besides diorite and granite. I do not know of any stone suitable for road metal there. It is good country for dairying. If you ringbark the country the streams would run the whole year, I think. You can get water anywhere by sinking. I do not, however, think the place is suitable for prisoners. It would be difficult to exercise supervision because, in two minutes, a man could be out of sight from any one point which he left behind him.
  
 
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987. ROTTNEST.—I have been to Rottnest. I do not think there is much soil suitable for vegetables there. There is plenty of building stone there, however.
987. ROTTNEST.—I have been to Rottnest. I do not think there is much soil suitable for vegetables there. There is plenty of building stone there, however.
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Revision as of 01:07:34, Apr 12, 2018

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1ST, 1899.


[AT FREMANTLE GAOL.]

Present:

DR. ADAM JAMESON, Chairman. Mr. E. W. Mayhew, Mr. J. Gallop, Mr. F. Craig, Mr. H. Stirling, Dr. Lotz, and the Secretary.

No. 10555, examined.

976. OFFENCE AND SENTENCE.—Murder : ten years.

977. PERSONAL.—I want to ask the Commission to look into my case. I was sentenced to death for murder, but the sentence was commuted to ten years penal servitude. The point I want looked into is the great discrepancy between the evidence first given after the man I was supposed to have murdered was missed and what was subsequently given by the same witnesses at the trial. I had a row with the missing man on a Friday and threw him overboard, but he came on board again in the presence of three white men—two of the name of Chamberlain and a man called Hatch. On the morning of the next day he was missing. At the first inquiry held it was shown that I was in my bunk at the time of the man's disappearance, but in court the same witnesses declared that they saw me following the deceased up in the a threatening manner. I have not the least idea what became of the deceased, and had nothing to do with his disappearance.


No. 3657, examined.

978. OFFENCE AND SENTENCE.—Indecently assaulting a female: two years.

979. PERSONAL.—I am a West-Indian by birth. I lived in the North-West with a native woman. We had with us a girl, a half- caste, who lived in my house. The police never interfered with me until I came back from serving as cook on a schooner. My native woman had meanwhile gone away, but the girl remained in the house. At the trial the girl, whose age was about twelve and a half, was frightened and shaken by the interpreter into saying what he wanted her to say. I have never assaulted her. I would like the Commission to see the depositions, if they are obtainable.


Nos. 3677, 3665, 1579, and 3666, examined.

980. OFFENCE AND SENTENCE.—Assault ; two years hard labour each.

981. PERSONAL.—We complain that the row with the prosecutor in this case was brought about by our trying to recover a portmanteau, which a man (called Benedicto) and a native woman had taken from the camp of one of us and were removing in the cart of the prosecutor. Our gardens and property are going to ruin. We were not allowed to explain at the trial that the cause of the disturbance was the stolen portmanteau, which we were trying to recover, as the Magistrate said we were being tried for the assault which was committed, and the portmanteau had nothing to do with it.


No. 6, examined.

982. RE CASE OF SAM DAWES.—I think Dawes is not guilty. I gave evidence against him which led to his conviction. I did so because the police told me that Dawes and Wise had garrotted a man, whose name I forget, in Charles Street, West Perth. I did not know the men, and, in fact, did not see them, but only gave evidence that they were the men, as the policeman said if I said they were the men the Government would pay me.

(The Commission adjourned.)


FRIDAY, 10TH FEBRUARY, 1899.

[AT SUBIACO.]

Present:

DR. ADAM JAMESON, Chairman. Mr. F. Craig, Mr. E. W. Mayhew, Mr. H. Stirling, and the Secretary.


F. J. Fowler, Superintendent of the Industrial School at Subiaco, examined.

983. THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.—The school was opened in October, 1894. At present we have 26 boys from five years of age, and 21 girls up to fifteen years of age. The cost of the building was about £5,000 exclusive of the land. The staff consists of a superintendent, an assistant, a matron, and school teachers. The total of the salaries comes to about £336 a year. I receive £60 salary and £34 ration allowance. The school teachers get the same. Neglected, destitute, and uncontrollable boys come here. They are sent here on the order of the police magistrates all over the colony. No convicted children come here. We do not teach the children trades at present, but the Government has called for tenders for workshops.

983A. EDUCATION.—The children get three hour's schooling every day, and the rest of the time we given them what we can to do in the way of mending and making clothes. The girls make and wash their own clothes and do the cooking. Some of the boys who have absconded from here have been sent on to Rottnest. I do not think that that should be done, because ours are not convicted children, and their absconding is not an offence against the public, but against the school. I think this encourages boys who want a change to abscond for the sake of being sent to Rottnest. There were twelve cases of absconding last year.

984. CORPORAL AND OTHER PUNISHMENT.—A certain amount of corporal punishment is inflicted. There is a refractory cell—not a dark cell. The longest sentence is for three days. It is not used at night time. Birching is done in the presence of the schoolmaster. Very little birching is done.

984A. AGES OF CHILDREN.—The youngest girl is four and the youngest boy is six. The oldest boy and the oldest girl are sixteen.

985. MEDICAL.—The general health of the children is good. There has never been any serious illness in the institution, except an outbreak of measles. There is no medical examination of the children and no medical officer to the institution.

958A. THE CHILDREN.—Most of the children are born of parents who come from the other colonies. Those parents who can afford to do so are required to contribute to the cost of the maintenance of the children.

(The Commission inspected the Reformatory and adjourned.)


MONDAY, 21ST FEBRUARY, 1899.

[AT PERTH.]

Present: MR. E. W. MAYHEW, Acting Chairman. Mr. M. L. Moss, Mr. H. Stirling, and the Secretary.


William Paterson, Manager of the Agricultural Bank, examined.

986. WHITHBY FALLS.—The acreage sold by me to the Government at Whithby Falls was 1,000 acres or thereabouts. It is hilly country. There are not ten acres of flat land on it. It is more suited for fruit growing than for general agriculture. There is a slate reef running through it, also a softer stone, besides diorite and granite. I do not know of any stone suitable for road metal there. It is good country for dairying. If you ringbark the country the streams would run the whole year, I think. You can get water anywhere by sinking. I do not, however, think the place is suitable for prisoners. It would be difficult to exercise supervision because, in two minutes, a man could be out of sight from any one point which he left behind him.

987. ROTTNEST.—I have been to Rottnest. I do not think there is much soil suitable for vegetables there. There is plenty of building stone there, however.