The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-13 00:00:00

THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 19, 196fi.

The Murder of' a Convict Warder at Chatham.

CHATIUM, Wedne,sklay.

This morning James Fletcher, the convict who stands
charged, on the coroner's inquest, with the wilful murder
of James Boyle, an assistant-warder at the Chatham Con-
vict Prison, in Chatham Dockyard, on Wednesday last, by
brutally attacking him with a hammer used by him in
breaking stones, was brought up for examination at the
police-court.

- The magistrates on the bench were 31r. W. H. Nicholson
and Captain H. Savage, and during the examination of the
accused the court was crowded.

The prisoner appeared to take more interest in the pro-
ceedings than on the occasion of his examination before the
coroner and jury. He appears to have recovered from the
effects of the wound inflicted on him by the bayonet of the
convict guard who went to the assistance of the deceased
at the time of the attack on him. Tha prisoner received
there bayonet wounds in the thigh and one in the side. He
was also struck over the left side of the head with the butt
end of the rifle, there being a- large scar still visible where
the wound was inflicted. Since ho has been in the custody
of the police ho has talked freely of the crime, which lie
does not attempt to deny, the reason alleged by him fvr the
attack on the deceased being on accouut of his having
caused him to be punished by confinement in the prison
cells. He also expresses the opinion that he shall be banged
for tli,) crime.

Sproule Irvine, the guard in charge of the convicts em-
played in Chatham dockyard at the time of the occurrence,
in addition to the evidence given before the coroner, now
stated that the party with which the prisoner was working
consisted of 20 convicts, who were all employed in stone-
breaking. Witness distinctly saw the prisoner rise from his
seat on a plank and strike the deceased three times with the
hammer produced, which he had been using in breaking
the stones. The first blow struck the deceased on the left
cheek, but witness could not say where the second blow
struck him, but the third time prisoner struck him while he
was on the ground. The deceased fell on being struck the
second time. Witness neverheard prisoner or deceased speak
before the attack took place. Immediately he saw the oc-
currence witness went towards the deceased, who was 15 or
16 yards away. The prisoner was then standing with the
hammer raised over his head, as if with the intention of
making an attack on witness, or continuing the attack on
the deceased. Witness secured him, and kept him until he
was taken to the prison. Before witness secured him
the prisoner dropped the hammer, which he picked up.
Nothing was said, so far as witness could remember, by
the prisoner either before or after he was secured. Wit-
ness sustained some injuries during the scuffle with the
prisoner.

The medical witnesses said the deceased died from the
effects of those injuries.

William Thomas Allison, a principal warder at the Chat-
ham Convict Prison, said tho prisoner had been reported
by the deceased for making use of foul language. Witness
produced the copy of the report of the deceased. The pri-
soner was present when the deceased made the report, and
so was witness. The. charge against the prisoner was for
having made use of foul language. The prisoner was re-
ported at the same time by another warder for having at-
tempted to obtain a second supper by false pretences. When
asked by the governor if he had anything to say to the
charge made by the deceased, he said he had not. The
prisoner was then ordered two days' close confinement in
the cells, with a diet of bread and water. On Wednesday
morning, the day of attack on the deceased, he was released
from confinement, and the same afternoon sent to his work
in the dockyard. The prisoner, in addition to his other
punishment, was degraded to another class, and lost 240
marks, which would operate against his remission of sen-
tence.

Prisoner—The reason I did it was because the officer was
regular taking advantage of the men, and reporting thorn
when there was no cause for it. The principal warder here,
when I was in the cells, on the 2d day of this month, said
ho would make my head and tho wall come together, so
that my brains would fly out. I then thought that when
I got out I would do this to get shut of my life altogether,
as I was sick and tired of it. There's men constantly
dying now in the prison with hunger and starvation. The
men are regularly eating the candles, soap; and tallow;
they also eat the potato peelings, and anything they can
get hold of. They are also drinking oil out of tho oil
cans. I don't wish to say any more now.

Alter the above statement had been taken down and
read over to the prisoner, he said it was quite correct, and
appended his signature to it.

He was then fully committed for trial for wilful murder
at the next assizes for Kent to be held at 3faidstone.

The Fatal Accident to a Welsh Excursion
Train.

GLANDWYFACH, NORTH WALES, Tuesday.
This afternoon the adjourned inquest upon the bodies of
those killed in the accident on the Carnarvonshiro Railway
last Thursday was resumed before the coroner for the dis-
trict, Mr. Hugh Hunter Hughes. Tho names of those upon
whom the inquiry was held were Mary Jones, Janet Phillips
Catherine Parry, Humphrey Griffith, Edward Williams,
and Elizabeth Evans. Tho first five were killed on the
scene at the time of the accident, and the last, Elizabeth
Evans, died on Sunday in the publichouse adjoining the
station, whither she had been removed. The inquiry was
opened in the Goat Inn, and after the body of Elizabeth
Evans had been viewed by the jury the court was adjourned
to a shed near the railway station.

Mr. Breese, solicitor, of Portmadoc, and Mr. Morgan
Lloyd appeared to watch the caso on behalf of the railway
company and tho contractors.

Tho evidence was given in English and translated in
Welsh for the jury.
After briefly addressing the jury on the serious nature
of their duties, the Coroner called

Dr. Parry, who said—l was travelling by the train that
met with the accident on Thursday night. There were no
carriages in the train. They were all ballast waggons. It
was dark at the time of the accident. We started from Pant
station, near Carvon, at 7 o'clock. We stopped at several
places on the road to put down passengers. I remember the
train stopping near this station (Glandwyfach). At first I
thought they were only putting down passengers. I know
since that it was to take in water from ttie tank. We came
very slowly from the tank to the station, and the train
stopped again. I did not know that the cause of the stop-
page was an accident. I sat still in the truck till I hoard
people calling out for me. I then got out and went to the
engine and found it across the line, and two trucks near it
upset. I saw two bodies under the trucks—a man and
woman. They wore both dead. I saw several other bodies
lying on a bank. I cannot say how many, there was such
confusion there and people calling for mo first on one side
and then on the other. I stayed all night in attendance
upon Elizabeth Evans, who died on Sunday.
Dr. Roberts, a surgeon practising at Portruadoc, described
in detail the nature of the injuries of which the several
persons had died. He did not know anything of the acci-
dent or the causes which led to it.

Thomas Davis said—l live at Glenavon. lam a private
tutor. I was in one of the trucks in the train going to
Portmadoc on Thursday. I was in a truck at the back of
the train. We stopped near the station to get water. We
then proceeded pretty slowly, and the first thing I noticed
was the light of the signal jumping up and down. The
truck I was in went on. I jumped down and ran towards
the engine. It was partly across the line. The tender
was lying on its side, pitched over. Three of the trucks
were also upset. The engine was not on the same rails as
tho tender and the trueks. I assisted in removing the dead
bodies and the injured. I spoke to the driver at Carnarvon
just before starting, and he was quite sober.
James Gordon, storekeeper on the Cambrian Railway, was
with the train at the time of the accident. He proved that
the guard in charge of the train was sober. The train pro-
ceeded at the rate of about 15 or 20 miles an hour. From
the tank where the engine took in water to the points at
which the accident occurr©d the train was proceeding at the
rate of five or six miles an hour. There was a " turnout"
about 200 yards from the tank. There was no pointsman
stationed there. The whistle was sounded on leaving the

David Leather, a passenger in the first truck, who was
thrown out by the collision, was examined, but his evi-
dence did not add anything to that of the preceding wit-
nesses.

Mr. William Pearce, manager of a bank at Portmadoc,
who rode on the tender from Pant to Glandwyfach, con-
firmed the previous description of the journey and the ac-
cident. All the officials in charge of the train were sober.
Mr. John Savin was on the engine, assisting to drive.
There were from 25 to 30 passengers in each truck.
Alfred Llarvey.—l am a ganger on the Carnarvonshire
Railway, I :lave been engaged on the line 12 months.
llad no particular instructions respecting the line on
Thursday. The points for three miles from here towards
Carnarvon are under my charge. I examined the points
where the accident took place on Thursday evening at six
o'clock. * They were then in good working order. They
were put in now about a fortnight ago. They are worked
by a lever. They are self-acting, and do not require any
one to look after them when a train is passing—that is, if
they are not disturbed by any one. They can only be
altered by some one working the lever. The weight of
the carriages passing would not disturb them. If a train
coming from Carnarvon had to stop at this station it would
be necessary to open the points that lead into the station.
That would be the duty of the breaksmo.n who accompanies
the train. As an additional precaution, a spike was driven
into the sleeper at the inside of the point to make it more
secure. The bolt has been driven in there in the first place
by the platelayers when laying down the points, and be-
fore the lever and weight were fixed. It was a tempo-
rary substitute. On Thursday morning I saw this spike
lying near the points, and I drove it in the hole where it
had been before. The train passed up from Port-Madoc
to Carnarvon in the morning all right. When I examined
the points at six o'clock on Thursday night they were shut
and the bolt was in as I had left it in the morning. The
bolt was driven about 2fin. into the sleeper. It was not
very tight, because it was an old hole. It could be removed
by the hand. A passing train would not displace it. Other
passenger trains have passed over the line, and safely passed
these points. About half an hour after the accident
occurred a woman cams to my house, and told me of it. I
came down to the station, and found the engine across the

main road, and the tender was broadside down. I did not
go to examine the points that night. I went at 4 o'clock
next morning. They were then open for the siding road.
There was a truck standing on them. There was a bit of
the point chipped off on the inside of the road. The lever
was tip. The points must hava boon partly opened by
some one before the train came down: The engine kept the
main line and the tender took the siding, with the trucks
after it. The engine in going over the points would have
the effect of shutting them closer, unless there was a stone
or something between the point and the stock rail, in which
case the engine would have the effect of opening them wider.
That is how I account for the engine passing the points
safely and the tender running off. lam sure the bolt had
not got in between the point and the stock rail. The road
is ballasted with gravel near the points, but the ballast is
kept lower than the rails.
James Gardiner-1 am a platelayer. I was at the scene
of the accident on Thursday night. I wont to look at the
points. I found a piece of sandstone "hashed up" on the
second chair, between the switch and the stock rail. It was
about half the size of a lien's egg. The bolt was lying in
the road, shout a yard off the points. There was no mark
-upon the bolt, as if it had been touched by the train. If it
had been wrenched out by the train it would have been bent
and marked. If knocked out by the train it would not have
fallen in the direction of the place where I found it. It is
not necessary to have the bolt there after the lever-box is
put up. It makes the points more secure when it is in. As
long as the bolt was in it was impossible to move the lever,
and it was not possible to open the point without moving
the lever. I have worked on many hundred points before,
but cannot account for the presence of the stone in any
other way except that it was purposely placed between the
points. I have known such a case before on Mr. Savin's
works. It was on a railway at Hereford, and the man was
tried at the assizes and found guilty.
J. H. Williams—On Thursday night I was coming back
from Caruarvon about 7 o'clock. It was dark and raining
very hard. I saw a man walking from the station towards
the'points. Ido not know who he was. He was walking
between the rails.
The inquiry was then adjourned.

Mr. Du Cane, M.P, on the Navy and

Dockyards.

On Tuesday evening, at the opening :of a new
Corn Exchange at Halstead, Essex, there was a
public dinner in the Town-hall. Capt. Sparrow pre-
sided, and amongst the speakers were Mr. Du Cane
(one of the Lords of the Admiralty), Sir Thos. B.
Western, M.P., Col. Brest, Capt. Courtauld, &c.
The last-named gentleman, in speaking on the
subject of the army, said that, as a junior Lord of
the Admiralty was present, he wished to ask him if
the statements that had been made in the news-
papers as to the extravagant expenditure in the
dockyards and navy were correct ? He would ask
whether it was true thatthe Government was spend-
ing more money in patching up old ships than was
necessary to make new ones ? Was it true that the
wages of seamen were so low that other kinds of
labour were more attractive than the navy to the
men of this country ?
Mr. Du CANE, in replying to these observations,
said that on his accession to office the question was
put to him by a friend who agreed with him in poli-
tical matters as to how he, a country gentleman,
came to be made a Lord of the Admiralty. What
possible connection could there be between an iron-
clad hull and the stubble and turnip fields of
North Essex ? (Laughter.) There did not at
first appear to be any connection, but agricul-
ture, was pre-eminently a question of peace, and
the representatives of agricultural constituen-
cies were interested more than all others in
the effective maintenance of the naval defences
as a safeguard of the peace of the country. He had
not intended to plunge into the mysterious whirl-
pool of dockyard accounts, or that sweeping bill of
indictment brought by Mr. Seeley against the naval
administration, but a certain fly had been thrown
across the table by Captain Courtauld, and so far as
he was able he should be only too happy to answer
the question put. In the first instance the question
had been put irrespective of party, because the
gentleman who put the question was a hearty sup-
porter of the late Government. It was quite true
that the question as to whether more had been spent
in repairing old ships than it would cost to construct
new ones had been asked in the House of Commons,
and it produced a great effect, but he could not help
thinking that the captain had not read the answer
given to it by Sir John Pakington. That answer
clearly showed that Mr. Seeley was wrong. lie had
got hold of two separate lines of figures, and had
misunderstood the number "3," which belonged to
another column.

Captain COURTAULD —My remarks referred to the
ship Cadmus.
Mr. DU CANE said ships were mentioned generally,
and he thought Mr. Seeley's statement was referred
to, but as he was not prepared with the account
relative to that ship, he could only reply gene-
rally. The next question was whether it was true
that our sailors were so underpaid that there
was a difficulty in obtaining good seamen to man
the navy. Now, he would say that the members
of the Board of -Admiralty had inspected every
vessel in Tier Majesty's squadron, as well as
the dockyards. There had been numerous depu-
tations of dockyard labourers, who represented
that owing to the increased price of provisions,
and other demands upon them, they wished to have
their wages increased. The Admiralty went on
board of 20 or 25 ships, and there was not a single
complaint made by the crews. That, he thought,
was the time to make complaints if any reason for
them existed, because a visit of the Board of Admi-
ralty gave an opportunity of making such com-
plaints. But there was one thing of which he
would assure his hon. friend, though he himself had
not been long in office, that from the First Lord of
the Admiralty down to the last there was but one
wish, that during the recess the whole of the state-
ments that had been made should undergo a com-
plete investigation. (Cheers.) If _ any abuses ex-
isted it was the determination of the Government
that they should be rooted out and dealt with in
the most summary manner ; and if Captain Court-
auld, with all his experience, would like to take a
tour through the dockyards, he should be furnished
with a free pass to go round without being accom-
panied by any official ; and, from the first nail
driven into a ship to her completion, he would have
an opportunity of ascertaining all the facts, and if
he could lay his hand on one single practical abuse,
and could point out a practical remedy, the First,
Lord of the Admiralty would mention him in his
place in Parliament as a benefactor of his country.
(Great cheering.) There was one matter to be
looked at. If the navy of this country was com-
pared with that of America the result would be
favourable to England. The circumstances under
which the naval expenditure occurred must
be taken into account. America, during the
last few years, had expended upon her
navy the same amount that England had done, and
had constructed three or four times the number
of ships the size of the English vessels.. Still he did
not think, the cases parallel. America, five years
ago, had no navy at all ; but England'had not only
to reconstruct her navy in the last five years, but
had also to alter ships and keep an efficient navy in
existence. It should also be remembered that we
were living in a time of change in naval architecture
such as the world had never known. The impene-
trable iron-clad of one day had been discarded,
owing to the power of the monster guns that had
been adopted ; and then, again, the turret-ship had
made another revolution in naval architecture. If
this revolution went on as it had done, the language
of the poet respecting the British seamen would be
inapplicable when he spoke of the " sea-boy on the
high and giddy mast ;" but he thought the high and
giddy mast would soon be a reminiscence of the
past, and " Poor Jack" would have to be recom-
mended to the care of the mermaids down below,
living in a diving-bell, and inhale his breath through
the questionable medium of a donkey engine.
(Laughter.) Seeing-that the invention of one day
had become the exploded of the next, it could not
be wondered that they had changed their affection
for the old wooden walls. The Government had
had the best wooden navy that the world had ever
seen before the revolution in naval matters had
taken place, but they were arriving at the end of
the sea of trouble and perplexity into which they
had been plunged, and certain principles had been
arrived at which would not only contribute to the
efficiency of the navy, but would be conducive to
simplify all matters in relation thereto for the
future.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TlMEs.—The ceremony of electoral exposure and
confession has been so often repeated, and hitherto
to so little purpose, that the most sanguine must
confess to misgivings as they read each chapter in
these scandalous annals. The Englishman has
great faith in publicity, and in that eye of day which
searches, and burns, and purifies ; but the eye of
day has looked on these doings for many genera-
tions, and might as well have winked at them for
any good that has come of it. Nothing can be
plainer, nothing less reserved, nothing, .we had al-
most said, more honest, than the revelations of
Yarmouth, Reigate, Lancaster, and Totnes, lavished
by the most competent and deeply-compromised
witnesses before the Election Commissioners. These
men are only telling the Court what everybody
knows, and what they really appear to have no rea-
son for onnealing. In all 1.1:(;:), towils, as no doubt
in niost others, there are men who know the precise
political value of all, or a large portion, of their
fellow-townsmen. As you will find everywhere
shrewd and observant men who know the value of
every house, the yield of every field, and the par-
ticulars of every horse in the neighbourhood, these
adepts—professors, it must be admitted, of no un-
worthy craft—can enter into the secrets of the soul,
scan the motives, and divine the intentions of each
individual elector. They know the man who will
take his £5 or his £lO ; the man who will allow his
rent to be paid, or his creditor satisfied •, the man
who can be approached through his brother or his
wife ; the man who will not vote unless he is paid ;
the man who will vote, but expects a compliment ; the
man who must be plausibly employed ; the man who
is trying to get money from both sides; the man
who will take money from one side and vote for the
other ; and the select few who consider themselves
the candidates' special friends and supporters, and
whose services are beyond the measure of money.
On all these inquiries lists of names have been pro-
duced, totals of money admitted, even more than can
be accounted for, and particular acts of bribery con-
fessed, with no attempts at palliation, except that " as
" one side bribed the other must," so that either
actually or in effect the constituents were selling
their votes to the highest bidder. It is assumed to
be impossible for the average British artisan or
5m3.11 tradesman, not to go a little higher, to refuse
the offer of £lO, £2O, or even £4O, if made in a
way not to shock his self-respect ; and it is also as-
sumed that there will always be found men ready to
make the offer. Nor is this the case only with the
smaller class of boroughs so often threatened by
name, and then hastily withdrawn as brands from
the burning. Yarmouth is a large place, with a
population that nobody could think of disfranchis-
ing altogether. But the electors reckon upon their
£l5 or £25 as much as the people of Totnes do on
about half as much again, which is the usual figure
there.. If facts such as these tell decisively either
for or against any good scheme of Parliamentary
Reform, it must be by some process of reasoning not
yet made familiar to the public. It has been assumed,
indeed, that bribery is a local and traditional evil,
Fathers.long wont to be bribed have sons who ex-
pect bribes, and whose posterity will be still more
venal. But the population of this country is not so
tied to localities in these days ; our large towns are
swollen by emigration from the smaller ones ; and
there is not a constituency in the kingdom in
which there are not men with this hereditary taint,
and ready to spread it. Money is everywhere the
motive of action and the measure of interest, and
the most unsophisticated constituency that can be
created by Act of Parliament will immediately and
thoroughly appreciate the man who wants a seat
and is ready to pay for it. The electors of the
places now on their trial had, after a feeble fashion,
opinions and preferences; they had been accustomed
to vote on one side rather than the other; but they
expected to be paid their retaining and even their
refreshing fees. Each side, with its candidates,
held itself to be a little army storming a breach in
the Constitution for the possession of a seven years'
lease of power. It was presumed that the candidate
had his interest, though its precise nature andvalue
could not be measared by ordinary rule. The elec-
tors shared the enterprise, ran their risk of dis-
comfiture, and expected their part in the division
of the spoil. The theory is widely held. One
of these witnesses held that out of a list of
70 voters there were only about a dozen who
would not take bribes. But we can easily con-
ceive that the successful candidate would rather be
quit of those dozen by the payment of £lO a piece
than be burdened with obligations that can never be
discharged. The man whom the successful candi-
date most dreads is not him who takes his money
and sneaks away, but the more dignified and re-
spectable personage, who expects his representative
to be continually in communication with the Lord
Chancellor, or the Horse Guards, or the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, or the Postmaster-General, in his
own special behalf, whatever party may be in power,
and even though the said representative voted last
week for the dismissal of the Ministers to whom the
elector's suit is to be urged. The difficulty of find-
ing a remedy is aggravated by that approximation
of parties and obliteration of differences on which
we have so often been congratulated. There exists
no very substantial difference between the Conserva-
tive Liberal and Liberal Conservative, who claim
the vote of an elector far less educated to see dif-
ferences than they are themselves. There is not a
single question of special interest to himself on
which one candidate promises better than the other.
The majority of his friends and neighbours have
hitherto voted for one, but they don't hold together,
and the bond of party, such as there is, has long
been reduced to a colour, or a name. The elector
knows that it will not make the slightest difference
to himself, or anybody else, or any question or
cause, which candidate he votes for, and that what-
ever he does he is only a drop in the ocean. But a
£lO note is something tangible. There is no doubt
about it. He wants it. He is that much, or more,,
in debt. It- will get him out of difficulties. His
neighbours, one after another, are taking it, and are
none the worse for it. Such is the current logic of
Great Yarmouth, a rapidly increasing town, with a
population of nearly forty thousand, and with seve-
ral hundred working men already on the register.

DAILY NEWS.—It is satisfactory to find that the
improvements made during the last three years in
the management of the convict prisons are begin-
ning to tell favourably on our criminal statistics.
The Annual. Report of the Directors of Convict
Prisons, recently issued, showed that the decrease
in the annual number of convictions during the
three years is not only marked, but considerable.
In 5863 the total number of convicts, including
fresh sentences and re-convictions, was 2,608 ;
while last year the number had fallen to 1,925—a
reduction of just about one-fourth. The decrease
in the relative number of severe sentences is equally.
decided. The number of sentences for a longer pe-
riod than seven years passed during the last year
was 868—little more than half the number passed
eight years ago in the year 1857. This indicates a
very considerable diminution in the number of
serious crimes, and a proportionate reduction in the
number of hardened and desperate criminals. Alto-
gether, both as to the total number of criminals and
the quality of their crimes, there is a change for the'
better during the last three years. This favourable
turn in our criminal statistics may, no doubt, in part
at least, be attributed to the changes recently intro-,
duced into the management of the convict prisons.
These changes may be referred to the two heads of
diet and discipline. With regard to the dietary it
will be remembered that when the whole subject of
prison discipline was discussed three years ago, a
complaint was made that, the convict prisons were
too comfortable, and that in particular their in-
mates were too well fed. The result sufficiently
shows that the complaint was, in some instances at
least, well founded. A reduced dietary was adopted
in the leadinr, convict prisons, dild the directors re-
port that it has up to the present time been attended.
with complete success. The fear that the reduced
dietary would affect the health of the convicts has
not in any instance been realised. At Portland the
directors-report the reduced dietary continues to. be
found sufficient, the appearance of the convicts being
healthy, and the amount of sickness small. At
Portsmouth the reduction, is reported to be " a ma-
terial success, and an influencing agent on the health
and habits of the convicts." At Chatham, too,
where the convicts are more exposed to unhealthy
and depressing influences, there has been, with the
exception of a temporary epidemic, less than the
average amount of sickness. While the reduced
dietary has 'not injuriously affected the physical
welfare of the prisoners, it seems to have had the
moral effect it was intended to produce. The
convicts feel it to be a serious deprivation, and
during the year many complaints have been made,
especially by the older convicts. It seems also that
they communicate their grievances on this head to
their old associates outside the prison walls, and
that these reports of increased discomfort have a
salutary effect on tne semi-criminal classes, which
supply the main contingent to the convict prisons.
The Governor of Woking and Broadmoor Prison,
for example, reports :—" An uncomfortable prison
life will deter many from returning to their old
trade, and I find in prisoner's letters to their friends
many allusions to the rigorous discipline to which
they are now subjected." With regard to discip-
line, the changes introduced refer mainly to the
more complete separation and classification of the'
prisoners in the close prisons, and the system of
marks for good behaviour, and the amount of work
done. In the close prisons the separate system has
been rigidly carried out into all the details of prison
life, including instruction, and with the best results.
On this point the Governor of Pentonville reports :
The substitution of the cellular system of teach-

ing for the old method of instruction in daEs
early in the year has.beeu attended with the hest
results, inasmuch as it has lessened very consider'
ably the opportunity for communication betweea
the prisoners, and has enabled me to maintain
much nearer approach to the maintenance of sePa"
rate confinement in its integrity." The system 11
also been attended with improvement in the goer
conduct of the prisoners. The change in disciplin°
.
which seems, however, to have had the most sun'
ing and salutary effect is the introduction and rieni
rous carrying out of the mark system. The parti;
remission of the prisoners' sentences, in other w0r,61,,
the granting of tickets-of-leave, depends on tre
number of marks gained, and the number of
marks depends on the convict's good behaviour,
and the amount of work he has done. Thisistl2-
plies a strong incentive to good conduct and ace
u
tive labour, and the results are apparent in t
repoits of the goveinors of th.-.% (lufl,rrn
convict prisons. The Governor of Portland Prison,
for example, reports—" The mark system has beta
successfully carried out, and is thoroughly appre-
ciated by the industrious and well-cordacted Po:
soners, of which class there is a large number at
this prison. All the work executed by the prisoners
has been carefully measured by the instructing
warders, and has tended to create a spirit of with
lation amongst the convicts, the parties vieing
each other for the credit of having performekl",
largest amount of work." The Governor of W 05-113e1
Prison in the same way reports—" The mark sYs.:
tern operates well. Prisoners are aware of their
exact standing, and I may almost say of the precise
consequences of violation of rule." The mark 01;
tern has, in fact, very much reorganised the yaw'
scheme of convict discipline, and placed it on a ,
better footing than heretofore. In particular, I
effectually removes the capricious and unsatisfactory
conditions on which tickets-of-leave used to
granted. It destroys the chance of favour an"
partiality being shown in the treatment of prisoner°'
and this in itself tends to produce a spirit of Colli
tentment amongst them. The Governors poor
ingly note that the good effect of treatment aceort
ing to fixed rules without favour or affection, an:
without undue harshness, is seen in the prevalence
of a contented spirit. On the whole, the facts at
duced in the special reports of the Governors of tuv
different prisons justify the summing up Of the
f
directors in their General Report The state
the prisons is, we think, now satisfactory; the een;
victs are certainly' worked hard, and the dietary,
no more than the most rigid medical investigat'°'
justifies us in granting:- Every infraction of disci!:
line, especially of violence to officers, and traffi,c
ing, which at one time was very rife, has ve-pa
promptly punished ; and, on the other hand, th
o
iscs.
tendency of all the regulations is to encourage tm
convicts to industry and good conduct."