Northern Weekly Gazette. — 1914-07-11 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

SETTLED BY CONVICTS.  One of the greatest penal colonies in the world is that which occupies the Andaman Islands in the Gulf of Bengal, about 800 miles from Calcutta and 400 from Rangoon. The convict population of these islands exceeds 20,000, vet it is to all intents and -purposes one enormous jail, guarded on every side by shark-infested waters.  The Andaman Islands were originally in. habited by a tribe of small black people, savage and treacherous to a degree, and given to murdering and eating the crew of any unlucky ship that happened to be cast away upon the thickly. wooded shores.  This was one of the reasons why the islands were picked out so long ago as 1789 for a penal settlement. .But after a few years the linhealthy climate and constant troubles with the natives caused the settlement to be abandoned.  In 1857 the government of India, having subdued the great mutiny. found that it had on its hands thousands of dangerous characters for whom there was not even room in local prisons. It was determined to ship them to the Anda. mans, and in the following year the Port Blair penal .settlement was once_ more established.  To-day the Andaman Islands are almore entirely settled by the convicts, who are hrouFht together from every part of the Indian empire. The object in view is to reform the criminal and turn him into a skilled labourer or artisan. For the first six months of his sentence a prisoner does "separates." just as he does in England. He works alone in his cell, under a rigid regime. Then. if he has behaved himself, he is sent to a station, where he works with a gang under the direction of expert officials, and for a year and a half does hard and unpaid labour, but is well fed, housed, and cared for. If his conduct is satisfactory he now enters on rather lighter labour, for which he receives .a small amount of pay. - He can use this to buy luxuries, or to put in the savings hank. it last, after serving ten years. comes a big change in his condition. H. gets ticket-of-leave. -If he has a wife he can now send for her, if he is a bachelor he can get permission to marry. The women convicts are kept on another The would-be benedict. having made his proper application to the authorities. is ferried over there on a Saturday afternoon, and finds the ladies who desire to procure husbands drawn up in a long line. He walks past. and \ ping one who takes his fancy, points her out and says: I like her looks. I'll have her, please, sahib." Ten to one shn jumps at the chance. But if she objects and says: No, he's an ugly fellow, and I don't like the looks of him," the ticketof-leave man has to try again and make a second choice..  The courting is rather a public proceeding, and. takes only an hour or so. Next week they arc married and settle down on a piece of land given by the authorities. They k?op cows and poultry. and grow crops of millet or rice, and often do very well. Their children are educated by the State. taught two languages and a trade, and eventually sent hack to the mainland. useful members of society.  Th•-, bad eharacter.i among the men convicts, about 600 in ali. are kPpt on a separatP T. D., Bishop Auckland.