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Convict Conditions
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waterworks department, and have had the responsibility of looking after the explosives. There is a table regulating the pay of the warders, but it appears to be obsolete. Through the Superintendent, I take my instructions in regard to the excavations from the waterworks engineer. 951. SUGGESTIONS.—It seems to me to be unfair to block a man from one department from getting into another. I received permission to apply for a position in the water police. Afterwards, I found that the Sheriff had asked that no one from the Fremantle gaol should be appointed to the position. The same kind of thing was done in a previous case, when a man wanted to get into the police department. If the officials want to get rid of a warder, they can easily do so, but, on the other hand, if a warder wants to get into another department, it is difficult for him. In fact, when he once enters the service of the gaol, he becomes, virtually, a prisoner himself. I do not think the treatment of fractious prisoners is sufficiently severe. Fractious and troublesome prisoners may be reported, but frequently they get no punishment. No. 10499, examined. 952. OFFENCE AND SENTENCE.—Unlawfully on premises; seven years. 953. PERSONAL.—I am an inmate of the Invalid Depôt. I came out in the convict ship " Hougoumont." I have had 20 convictions, mostly of the vagrancy class. I am a quarryman by trade, and whilst I was working a my trade bore a good character. I am 53 years of age, and would be ready and willing to work for my living if I could get my sentence reduced. (The Commission adjourned.) SATURDAY, JANUARY 28TH, 1899. [AT ROTTNEST.] Present : DR. ADAM JAMESON, Chairman. Mr. E. W. Mayhew, Mr. H. Stirling, Mr. J. Gallop, Dr. Lotz, Mr. F. Craig, and the Secretary. John Watson, Superintendent of the Rottnest Reformatory, examined. 954. BOYS IN THE REFORMATORY.—The maximum number of boys in the Reformatory was 25 last year. The boys have worked at painting and carpentering, and now they have a garden to work in, but that is only recently. Five years is the longest sentence. I have had boys here as young as eight and as old as twenty. I have been here 18 years, and during that time there has been only one serious case of illness. On leaving here the boys do well, as a rule. One is now in the G.P.O., London; one is in the Customs at Perth. The schoolmaster here is one of the best in the colony. There are three hours' schooling each day. Seventeen out of 21 boys obtained certificates at the last examination. As a rule, the boys behave well, but we have had one or two vicious ones. The water from the Reformatory baths runs into a dry well. This is a bad arrangement, considering it is so close to the building;in the winter time the yard is flooded with water. 955. GARDEN.—For the past seven months,the institution has been supplied with vegetables from the boys' garden. We have sent some to Subiaco. The potatoes have turned out well; we grew 9cwt. from 270lbs. of seed. F. Pearce, Superintendent of Native Penal Settlement at Rottnest, examined. 956. PERSONAL.—I have only been here since last September. Salary, £400 a year, quarters and a table allowance of £50. I am also allowed the services of one white prisoner and four native prisoners at the house. We have only 51 prisoners at present, which is a good deal below our usual average of 72. Most of the prisoners come from the South. Two years ago, there was a deadly epidemic on the island, and a circular was sent asking the magistrates in the North to discontinue sending native prisoners to Rottnest. There is plenty for the natives to do in the North, but I think it is a good thing to be able to threaten refractory natives with being sent to Rottnest; they do not like it, because it is so far from their homes. 957. MORTALITY.—The death-rate is now very low at Rottnest; there were only three deaths last year—two of pneumonia and one of senile decay. The medical officer visits Rottnest about once a fornight. Pneumonia and influenza were the principal causes of illness last year. 958. INDUSTRIES.—I would suggest that an agricultural expert should be sent over to report upon the best way of utilising the garden ground, what the soil is best fitted for, and how to make the most of it, etc. The salt works has been abandoned for want of the market for the salt. I do not propose to make any more salt unless I can first sell what I have on hand. 959. DIET FOR THE NATIVES.—Vegetables 1lb.,or 4ozs. rice; bread 1½ lbs.; meat 12ozs.; tea ⅓oz.; sugar, 1½oz.; tobacco, ½ stick per week; soap, 4ozs. per week. 960. CELLS.—There are no dark cells, but there are refractory cells. 961. COST OF SUPERVISION.—The cost of supervision for the month of January was £112. M. Forkin, Senior Warder, examined. 962. PERSONAL.—I have been 17 years in the service. My salary is £127, quarters and firewood. 963. PRISONERS.—We have had as many as 104 prisoners. We had more warders then than now. We used to have seven warders; now we have five. 964. CELLS.—These are not washed out; they have not been washed for ten years. They are disinfected with kerosene, in accordance with the suggestion of Dr. Barnet, who was one of a Commission which reported upon the place some years ago. 965. HOLIDAYS.—Half the days on Saturday and all the day on Sunday the prisoners are allowed to roam about over the Island. No. 10505, examined. 966. OFFENCE AND SENTENCE.—Larceny; eight years penal servitude. 967. PERSONAL.—I have been in prison and have been set down as a terrible scoundrel, but the present is my most serious offence, and that was a robbery from the person of a drunken man without violence. The other affairs were only misdemeanours. I think my sentence was unduly severe, and if it could be reduced I have the means to take me back to Sydney. I was never in prison on the other side, but out of five years in this Colony I have been nearly the whole time in gaol. 968. DIET.—I have no complaint to make; the tucker is better than at Fremantle. No. 10504, examined. 969. OFFENCE AND SENTENCE.—Assault and robbery; ten years. 970. PERSONAL.—I came out from Ireland, under engagement to Mr. E. Keane. I think my sentence is severe, and I would like to have it reduced, if possible. 971. ROTTNEST.—I prefer Rottnest to Fremantle; the food is better and there is more liberty. There is next to no work to do. I look after the mending and washing of clothes and work in the garden. No. 2568, examined. 972. OFFENCE AND SENTENCE.—False sentences and larceny as a bailee; two years and ten months. 973. PERSONAL.—Mine was the first offence and the sentence a heavy one. I shall go out on May 17th; but, as the first offence, I would ask the time may be shortened. Robert Starr, Storekeeper, examined. 974. PERSONAL.—I discharge the duties of clerk, storekeeper, dispenser, postmaster, heliographist, etc. I am not a fully qualified dispenser, but I have passed the several examinations. 975. STORES.—The general stores supplied are in every way satisfactory, and the drugs are of good quality. [The Commission adjourned.]
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