, 1880-06-05

ing through the wares vas nothing short Of m
ethnogrsp hioal study; for there YETI III 81
seen specimens froinns large huhBep "a tb8
nationalities which cote snstHfup ahsfSkst
Russian empire In one roefi, feB iastaeee
We found Kazan Tartars,i Kifgbese, Terter1 Of
the Cfimea, Circassians,. and BashkifS.o Be.
sides the large rooms or wards; lc0utailine
fromr2 to9l00 prisoners each, thereewar d
few Chambers over tho doors Of which was
written the word "secret." We entered some
of them, and found them small punishment
cells, from which, however, the light was not
excluded nor the heat, and in which, if COM
pelled, L would certainly rather spend three
days than in the dark cells at Newgate. We
were taken into a few, bet very few, workshops,
in one of which were shoemakers, a speoimen
of whose work was shown in a pair Of goDdseek-
ers top boots, to be. sold for IA shillings. eIn
another room, a handful of men, perhaps a
score, were employed in making the cases Of ci-
garettes, by which employment a man by work.
ing very hard could roll 10 a day the paper
for 5000 cigarettes, and by So doing could
earn a perquisite of Sd. for himself. Near the
prison was a kitchen garden in which the COP
vlcts worked, and We saw a few men returning
from brickmaking. Each man had to make
on an average zoe bricks, working from 6 till
IL in the morning, and from 9 ill h~alf-past 6
in tho evening. Fifty men thus make 5000
bricks a day, for which they receive as a per-
quisite about los. All the prisoners were
condemned to hard labour, but if there was
one thing that surprised me more than another
10 this large building it wss, not the amount OF
work laid upon the prisoners, but the absence
of it. We went through ward after ward, and
found hundreds of men with nothing to do, and
what was worse, nothing to read. We were
not surprised to hear ;hat the prisoners had
recently asked for books, and had entreated
that work might be given them. The authOri.
ties, however, told Us they could not find them
work. l was vain enough to say inwardly,
"It strikes me l could find them work" but
on reaching San Francisco, | altered my mind
when inspecting a prison managed on modern
principles, where they can manufactures in q
day more than a Thousand doors, 10 say no
thing OF hundreds of articles OF wood, leather,
iron, and | know not what and yet, even
there. they had men condemned 10 hard Iabour
twirling their thumbs for want Of . job. The
comparatively idle life Of Siberian prisoners
reminded me Of what had been told me- in Rus
STA, that the Government now keep in the Eu-
rOpean prisons many whom, hut for the scarcity
of labour, they would send to Siberia.
East ot Irkutsk, ut Werchne Udinsk and
Chita, were formerly prisons ct note bus tina
famous prison at Werchne Udipsk has bS+u
burnt, and that at Cbita appeared 10 be-
used FIR little more than local purposes. They
are building a new prison at Werchne Udinsk
and it would be we'll if the old one at Chi'a
might be pulled down, for, like son's of the
others, it was very old and dirty. Htif
Perhaps, however, l ought to have mention
ed before that the whole condition of the ST.
berian prisons is in a transition stste. The
authorities have ny seen the need IT prison
reform, and have taken considerable pains IN
appointing a C mmission and in send ing per
sons to various countries to study the question
thoroug hlv. They have, moreover, huhta
new prison in S.. Petersburg which will bear
Comparison with the best modern prisons OF
other countries, but they have not yet, for
want of money, been able to extend their re-
forms to Siberia. The changes have long
been talked Of and are yearly expected. Cou-
sequently, as little as possible is expended upon
the old bull dings, SO that unless the director
of a prison have at his disposal means md men
and opportunity, together with a strong deter
minatiOn to make the best of things, matters
are not likely for the present TO br mrnded. L
met one instance, however, at Kara, where
in less than thre e years, no fe ger thun Is new
buildings had been erected by the Director, un.
asked, and without receiving for the purpose so
much as a single kOpeck from the Government.