The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-02-19 00:00:00

disclosed in that unfortunate ship's case. The
Board of Trade have sufficient evidence to show
that she was lost from " ignorance and neglect."
She went on shore in a fog, when the " lead
" line," which is the only resort the mariner has
on a lee shore in thick weathers had never once
been used ; and the other facts adduced before
Captain SCHOMBERG and Mr. MANSFIELD were
thought quite sufficient to justify a charge of
" ignorance" against the commander. The
plaintiff in this action is an uninsured shipper,
who claims a sum of 6,000/. as compensation for
his losses by the wrecking of the vessel, under
the circumstances above stated ; and if he re-
covers, shipowners will do wisely to pay on a
simple valuation, and submit to the first loss ever
afterwards. The Lochmaben Castle had
between five hundred and six hundred lives
on board, and had these poor beings fallen
a sacrifice to the " ignorance and neglect" of a
captain, what a frightful record we should have
had before us ; and it is against these abominable
disasters—which may be avoided—that the pub-
lic look to the Legislature for protection.

WHILE the minds of many of our most
worthy Statesmen are fixed upon the great ques-
tion of Prison discipline, and Political Econo-
mi4ts are endeavouring to reconcile themselves
to the idea, forced upon them by all intelligent
Ratepayers, that Prisons should be as far as
possible self-supporting, we hail with no com-

mon gratification the fact that a prison exists in
the British Islands, which seems to us a " Model

Gaol" indeed.

Mr. FARMER LLOTD, Governor of the Cork
County Gaol, is one of the few Englishmen who
not only possess the bump of originality, but
who dare take the responsibility of carrying out
their views. Undeterred by the outcry of Eco-
nomists fearing an interference with the market
of honest labour, and untrammelled by red tape
or routine, this worthy Governor seems to have
cut the Gordion knot of Prison discipline, and to
have inaugurated a new system in the Cork
County Gaol well worthy our imitation.
This County Gaol contains about 1,000 persons ;
it also contains a complete weaving and spinning
factory—a' late addition to the original erections
of a cheap and simple character. Here 300
of the prisoners are in full work. About 150
persons are employed in tailoring, shoemaking,
gardening, brushmaking, bread baking, washing,
&c., by which means nearly every article of
clothing, bedding, &c., &c., required for the use
of the inmates, are manufactured. About 60
women work at a windlass, which supplies
motive power for drawing water and other pur-
poses. 50 to 100 persons spin unretted flax at
the distaff, by hand, and as many boys or men
are weaving it at hand looms. The flax is deprived
by friction of its woody fibie only, that it may be
stronger, and cause more work. In short, from
the raw material to the finished clothing
throughout all the various shops of shoemakers
and brushmakers, &c.—the Cork County Gaol is
one vast hive of industry.
The prisoners work in gangs, and perfect
silence is maintained. If diligent and orderly,
the inmates receive some small share in the
weekly earnings ; if disorderly, disobedient, or
mutinous, they are punished at the treadwheel,
by solitary confinement, walking with the ball,
or short rations.

Such are the distinguishing features of the
prison which Mr. FARMER LLOYD presides over,
and such are the industrial arrangements which
he has, by slow degrees no doubt, brought to
perfection.

The financial result is as follows :—The total
expense, including salaries of officers, is below
6,000/, a year, or 6/. per head per annum. Put-
ting the average expense of prisoners in English
gaols at 301. per head per annnm, which is below
the mark, Mr. FARMER LLOYD saves the Rate'
payers of County Cork no less than 24,000/. per
annum on the one item of Prison expenditure.
The moral result must, we are sure, from our
knowledge of this class of our fellow creatures, be
even more encouraging still. Instead of idleness,
constant and interesting work ; instead of com-
plete dependence, the principle of self-support is
impressed upon them. They come out of that
prison, if not skilled artisans, at all events men
and women who have been for many months in
regular and honest employment ; they re-enter the
world familiar with some kind of work—with
some knowledge of a trade by which an honest
penny may be turned.
Mr. FARMER LLOYD well deserves our thanks'
and has earned the admiration of all those inter-
ested in the Prison discipline branch of the great
question, "What are we to do with our crimi
" nals ?" lie has carried cut the principle in
action which we have long maintained in our

columns, that every man, woman, or child who
has broken the laws of the society in which they

live, must, on entering prison, consider that they
have to earn their daily bread by their daily toil,

and not, as now, to break the laws, and then he
allowed to live out the term of punishment eating
the bread of idleness.

THREAT TO ►SWEEP CANTON FROM THE FACE OF THE
Eattru.— In the Parliamentary Blue Book just issued,
concerning the Canton bombardment, we find, on page 197,
the quotation of a despatch penned in 1819 by Lord Pal-
merston, and addressed to Mr. Bonham, one of the repre-
sentatives of England in China. Mr. Bonham had sent
home a document purporting to be a proposal by some
gentry and literati of Canton to erect a tablet in commemo-
ration of the services rendered by the Commissioner Seu
and by the Lieutenant Governor Ych, in successfully
resisting the entrance of British subjects into Canton. In
reply, Lord Palmerston instructed Mr. Bonham to go to the
great officers at Canton and make use of the following
words :—" The Chinese authorities seemed, more than ten
years ago, to believe that because Great Britain is far
distant from China, the Chinese might. with impunity, ill-
nse British subjects in China. The Chinese officers found
that they were mistaken. The British Government sent
ships and troops to China ; the Chinese troops were
conquered in fight, and the Chinese Government were
compelled to grant to the British Government the satisfac-
tion that was demanded for the injury which had been done
to a British officer and British subjects. The Chinese great
officers at Canton seem to be fading again into the same