Prisoners Their Own Warders

in regard to them; but we think it will not be without interest to dwell somewhat more at length, as we have proposed, upon the construc

the artificer gang under that able officer, who saw the absolute necessity of having some large public work in hand in order to the convicts acquiring a knowledge of the various trades. This principle in the management of c

oc

AL, SIN

te

laid the foundations for execution by their labour of St. Andrew's Church, now the cathedral of the diocese; while to Major

10] (see P

ed by his successor, with the exception, as has already been said, of substituting a spire for a tower, owing to undue settlement at the tower end. This building is 250 feet long internally, by 65 feet in width, with nave and side aisles; or, with the north and south transepts, 95 feet, the transepts being used as porticoes. The simple columns, with plain mouldings only, carried arches, on which rested the side walls of the nave, which were run up of sufficient height to clear the roofs of the aisles, and were perforated by a range of windows to admit light to the whole building. At the north-east end of the nave was a great arch leading into a chancel, and an apse with three lancet windows in stained glass. The buil

d a model made; and the natives of India are such wonderful imitators, as we all know, that they soon were able to follow the copy we had given them. So the work progressed from da

coarse sugar, or "jaggery," beaten together to form a sort of paste, and mixed with water in which the husks of cocoanuts had been steeped. The walls and columns were plastered with this composition, and, after a c

y of its tracery and mouldings, it really appears much larger than it actually is, and being

Mr. John Crawfurd, Mr. James Guthrie, and others, was instrumental in bringing about the transfer of these settlemen

GOVERNMENT HO

GARDEN BEING LAID

te

House (see

no time in issuing orders to purchase land, and to erect a suitable residence for himself and for the future Governors of the colony. Plans were accordingly called for from the colonial engineer (Major McNair), and they soon took shape and were submitted by the Governor to the Legislative Council without delay; and money was voted

t, to employ free labour, to assist in the flooring, which was executed with battens from the steam sawmills at Johore, and also in the coffering of the ceilings in t

rare plants under successive Superintendents of the Government Botanical Gardens. The building commands an extensive view of the harbour and surrounding country, and from the tower the distant islands and mainland

SINGAPORE, APPRO

e XV

from which it returns right and left to the lobby above, which is of the same dimensions as the entrance hall. Off this lobby, on the eastern wing, is the library, and beyond, the principal bed and dressing-rooms, and an open verandah over the portico (since regrettably built in). In the w

ing is 230 ft. in frontage, and 180 ft. in depth, and the height to the tower is 80 ft. The style is Ionic upon Doric, with Co

ves, and capitals were made at the convict brick kilns.[13] The plaster work for the exterior walls was a subject of much consideration with us; and, after various experiments, we arrived

. – Carefully and slowl

ected san

ust in small handmill

f H.M. the Queen was unveiled with some cerem

es (Intr

nd shall therefore confine our remarks here to a brief description of some of those produc

, yet distinctly separated from it by high walls and a guarded gateway, was a "work-yard," in which were built

cN

USE, SINGAPOR

te

le. To drive this machinery a 12 h.p. engine was used, and this was placed under the charge of a convict who had been employed in the engine-room of a P. and O. steamer, and had

cts were employed in connection with steam power. We had, it is true, an engine to be worked by manual power, for six or

soners sentenced to rigorous imprisonment may never be without the hard labour which the jail is bound to provide for them. In this, as in most matters connected with the organization of prison industry, I h

smithies, and forged, cast, and prepared all kinds of ordinary iron work found necessary. The coopers made buckets, tubs, and all the casks for storing cement, and for other jail purposes. The wheelwrights made all

ho worked with an ordinary Indian hand-loom, made the coarse cloth required for those classes in irons, and washed, dressed, combed, carded, and spun the raw wool purchased from the butchers in the town, from which the "kumblies" or coarse blankets supplied to all the convicts were made. The coir or yarn manufactured from the husks of cocoanuts was prepared by those employed

were registered for identification in case of escape; also local prisoners and men under custody by the police. We had not, of course, the knowledge then of Mr. Henry's method of identity by means of "finger-prints," for it was only approved last year by the Government of India. The draughtsmen, numbering three, executed all the plans and working d

scene of task work from one end to the other, for every one was engaged upon something, and

s, and we shall limit our description to the making of bricks,

es (Extr

rst to introduce the manufacture on Government account; he opened a place at Rochore, near the present gasworks, and employed free labour. The system was what is known as the "dry" and sand-moulding system, and the brick

ear the banks of an inlet from the sea, and affording great facility for water carriage, and with a palm grove close at hand, under the shade of which the convicts were allowed to roam without restraint when their work was over. Sheds, kilns, pug-mills, moulding tables,

to the work, and to adapt themselves to each other, we were able to supply all that were needed for the public works, and even to export them for works at Malacca. In tabulating the account

izes, and stable flooring bricks, manufactured by these convicts, for which the Superintendent gained the silver medal; and if any further proof is need

in any jail where the arrangements are so perfect as in that of Singapore. While the discipline under which the convicts are held is obviously most efficient, the skill with which their labour is directe

e best I have seen in India. Where there are good bricks, other work is seen to be equally good, and when a proper amount of work is required per convict, then the discipline must

UARRYING, AT PUL

te

fore very well suited for the purpose. It was broken up and heated in kilns constructed for the purpose. The cement was made from this lime, and from selected clay, in the proportions we had by careful experiments established, u

rying (see

able, grey in colour, with here and there black patches or nodules of hornblende. It occurs in large fluted boulders, and was wrought by the convicts by fire, or by blasting with gun-powder, or split by pointed chisels and large hammers. Its weight was 168 lbs. per cubic foot. The excellent quality of this granite

Dig

ho, many of them, begged to be allowed to take part in their construction. After a careful set of borings, we came upon water at a depth of 180 and 120 feet respectively. They were eventually dug out to these depths, and steined to six feet in diameter by the use of sound and hard b

tno

1

Chaplain, Ven

Mr. C. B. Buc

, Mr. E.

rd "l?tus," pleasant, and the Saxon word "ley," a field, and had been so impressed with the simple character and proportions of the Early English style of c

stercian order, who were brought over from a neighbouring monastery at Beaulieu in the New Forest, where there was already an abbey dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Netley Churc

ocese, has been much admired for its true symmetry and exact pr

rought to completion on designs approved

s, with the assistance of Overseer Callcot

himself supplied both