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Convict Conditions
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918. DISCIPLINE.—The discipline in regard to the prisoners is very lax here, as compared with what it is in Victoria. There are practically no regulations governing my duties, and the warders not trained in the use of arms as they are in Victoria. 919. SUGGESTIONS.— It would be an advantage if the Victorian system were adopted, whereby there is a rotation of duties, and the monotony caused by one man being kept perpetually at the same work is avoided. Monotony is apt to lead to carelessness. 920. TREATMENT OF THE PRISONERS.—The prisoners are too well treated and too well fed here. It is more like a big boarding house than a prison. On the other side prisoners get no hammocks and no sheets. They also get hominy there instead of tea. Tea is not allowed in Victoria, except to prisoners doing special work. At dinner time, in Victoria, they get the same allowance of meat as here, but no porridge. The West Australian prisoners are both better fed and better clothed than they are in the Eastern colonies. In fact they are too well fed and too well clothed here. 921. SEPARATE SYSTEM.—I would recommend the introduction of the separate system. The present associated system makes the men unbearably insolent to the warders, and renders discipline impossible. 922. DAILY DIVINE SERVICE.—I do not think this does any good. A prisoner now goes to church once a day, whilst a warder can only go once in three weeks. 923. TREATMENT OF OFFICIALS.—I have no complaints to make as to the way I have been personally treated by my superiors or fellow officers. Francis John Townsend, Chief Clerk and Storekeeper at the Fremantle Gaol, examined. 924. PERSONAL.—I have been 22 years in the service. My pay from the Gaol Department is £250 a year, and quarters; and I am allowed £25 a year for taking charge of the Imperial stores. I keep a receipt and issue book of the provisions, ration return book, day book, and store ledger. I receive the supplies when they come in. 925. CONTRACTS FOR SUPPLIES.—The Government Storekeeper sends me copies of the contracts made. The Government Storekeeper retains the samples on which the tenders are based and contracts made. If I have any reason to suspect that a particular supply is not up to sample, I should send to the Government Storekeeper to get the sample and compare it. In case of any difference of opinion on the matter between myself and the contractor, it would be referred to the Government Storekeeper. 926. FLOUR.—We have had no difficulties in regard to the flour contract until within the last two months or so. We use about five or six tons a month. 927. OATMEAL.—On two occasions within the last twelve months I have returned two bags of 2cwt. each. 928. POTATOES.—These have given rise to some difficulty. On delivery the potatoes are picked over; the damaged ones are rejected; the contractor receiving credit only for the good potatoes. We use about 4½ tons a month. 929. VEGETABLES GENERALLY.—It would be better for the prisoners to have greater variety in the matter of vegetables; but the practical difficulty is allowing each prisoner his proper weight of vegetables, when you are dealing with vegetables other than potatoes. I would suggest that the difficulty might be got over by improving the quality of the soup, by the addition of vegetables in season; but in that case the regulations should provide that no prisoner shall have the right to claim any particular amount of vegetables or of soup. As a rule, the men prefer potatoes to any other vegetable. Last Sunday we dispensed with the pudding and substituted potatoes. The men appreciated the change, preferring the potatoes. 930. PORRIDGE.—I think it would be better to serve the porridge at breakfast, but, on the other hand, some of the men tell me that they look upon the oatmeal as a mainstay, and they like to have it with the mid-day meal. 931. MEAT.—I do not receive the meat personally. The complaints I have chiefly been as to its being thin and bony. The meat is not supposed to be first-class, but it must be good and sound, and it is. We do not insist upon an equal quantity of hind and fore-quarters being delivered, because for purposes of even distribution of rations it is not to our advantage to so insist. I have always found the contractor willing to send extra meat if the meat was at all thin and bony. Sunday's meat is delivered on the Saturday by the contractor for his convenience, and at his risk. If it goes bad meanwhile, he must send fresh meat, even if he has to kill on the Sunday. We use about 2201bs. of meat a day. I have occasionally seen fly-blown meat delivered, but it has always been changed. 932. RICE.—The rice is very good. We are now getting No. I., although the contract is for No. II, quality. 933. TEA.—In the other colonies they get maize meal in place of tea. Our tea is of the lowest grade, and costs 9d. per lb. I think it would be advisable to get a better quality tea. 934. CLOTHING.—We make all the summer clothing for the men, and all the clothing for the women in the prison. The winter clothing for the men comes from England. Some of it could be made here. The cost of the bedding and clothing for the whole of the gaols throughout the colony last year was £1,900, or a little over £3 per head. The boots are made, under contract, in Perth. If made in the prison it would be necessary to have a factory and skilled supervisors. The colonial-made boots cost no more than imported, but they do not last so long. 935. MILK.—Costs us £300 a year, including the supply for the Invalid Depot. Their maintenance is paid by the Imperial Government at the rate of £42 a year. 936. FIREWOOD.—Costs £40 a month. £1 a cord of 128 feet is the price. I do not think coal would be much cheaper, and you would have to alter the grates, ect., in order to use it. Banksia wood is usually supplied. 937. VACANT LAND.—The land about here will grow good vegetables in the winter, but in the summer it is too dry for that purpose. N. W. Faddy, Contractor (of the firm of Faddy & Knight), examined. 938. CONTRACT.—We supply flour, potatoes, rice, tea, and the general provisions outside of meat. To this institution our annual supply is of the gross value of about £2,500 a year. 939. FLOUR.—No complaint has been made respecting the flour until recently, when it was found to be too new. 940. POTATOES.—These are picked over, and the rejected ones thrown out, and not paid for. I think we have been treated with great severity and some unfairness in the matter of the potatoes. On one occasion a few pounds of potatoes out of five sacks were thrown out and rejected. 941. OATMEAL.—A little oatmeal was returned some time ago. It had only been landed a few hours, and the only fault was that the outside of the bags had got wet. I returned it in fresh bags and it was accepted at once. 942. SUGAR.—This is "No. 3 Company's" sugar. I have heard no complaints about it. 943. TEA.—It is a Ceylon tea, and is largely sold to the general public. It is far superior to the tea usually supplied to stations, and it is the same quality as is generally supplied to restaurants. 944. RICE.—This is Siam rice. I have heard it stated that one of the prisoners, formerly in our employ, has asserted that we sent up only the worst quality to the gaol. The facts are, that I caught this man in a theft and dismissed him. I took no proceedings against him. Afterwards, when he got into further trouble, I declined to appear against him, but I fancy he must have thought I gave the police information against him, which was not the case. 945. PERSONAL.—I produce testimonials from various public officials as to the way in which I have carried out my contracts. (Documents produced.) John Chester, a Contractor, examined. 946. MEAT.—My contract is for meat. The price is 5½d. per lb, for beef and mutton. The gross value is about £2,000 a year for the gaol. We send in more fore-quarters than hind-quarters, because the fore-quarters cut up better for distribution, in the opinion of the gaol authorities. I have always sent in 20lbs. weight over the requisition, to allow them to "cut out," and to permit of the proper distribution of the meat. If it were thought desirable, we could supply pork one day a week at the same contract price as beef or mutton, but then we could not allow the 20lbs. overweight that we do now. George Byleveld, a Warder, examined. 947. PERSONAL.—Joined service July 10th, 1898. No previous prison experience. I am an old soldier. I come from Victoria, and am by trade a cabinet-maker. Pay, 6s. 6d. a day, including Sundays. I am permitted by the Superintendent to occupy quarters for myself temporarily. Am a married man with three children. My wife is in Victoria, as I could not provide house accommodation out of my pay, and things appeared to be somewhat uncertain as to permanence of my position. I joined the service here thinking there would be an opportunity for me to teach my trade to the prisoners. I would like to know, if an officer was injured in an outbreak of the prisoners, whether he would receive any compensation. 948. USE OF FIREARMS.—The officers are not instructed in the use of firearms, and it is not very clear whether they would be supported if they shot a man who tried to escape. L. Munro, a Warder, examined. 949. PERSONAL.—Joined service May 30th, 1898. No previous experience as a Warder. I come from Victoria. Pay, 6s. 6d. a day; no quarters. Am a married man. It is a struggle to pay rent out of 6s. 6d. a day. I am discharging miscellaneous duties in the division. I take my instructions from the Chief Warder. I have no trade, and have no suggestions to offer, having no previous prison experience. Eyre Evans, a Warder, examined. 950. PERSONAL.—I have been two years and one month in the service. No previous prison experience. Pay, £10 10s. a month and quarters. I am a permanent warder, but I get less pay than some temporary warders, who have been here less time. I have been in charge of the excavation works for the
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