The ratepayers venerally know that in consequence of the unsutisfuctoriness of the cells at the Municipal Police Stations, as to whose utter untilness for use xs prisons we have written many times in these columns, the Britist Government were approached with offers to take over the British Gaol, which has rarely now more than half-dozen prisoners in it wt a time. The negotiations resulted in the Council being allowed to lease one win of the gaol, which only accommodates 126 prisoners, three in & cell, though accommodation is urgently required for at least 500, and while the best precautions are taken that, the same three prisoners shall never be together more than one night. in the same cell, it is raully indispensable in any thoroughly adequate prison that there should be solitary confinement. But what can be done with the utterly inadequate space at the disposal of the Deputy-Superintendent of Police, Captain Donald Mackenzie, has been done, and Ratepayers should make a point of visiting' the gaol and seeing in what admirable order it is. Another storey might easily be put on at little expense with convict Inbour, but this the British Board of Works' will not allow. As it is, while too crowded, it is scrupulously clean, and sickness is almost unknown among' the prisoners, in which point this gaol offers a great contrast to the Mu cipal cells. The prisoners work eight hours aday in two spells, those who have never learnt one being taught a trade, carpentering (the prisoners have made all the fittings for the infirmary), mat-making, shoemaking, tailoring, garden~ ing, ete., while some 40'tons of stone are broken weekly for the Council's use on the roads, The warders are half Sikhs and half Pathans, under European supervision, an equal number of Sikis and Pathans, armed, being on duty together. All the arrangements and the general working of the prison reflect the greatest credit om Capt. Mackenzie, who has ind considerable experience of this work in the Malay States.
The present arrangement, however, is only a stopgap—and a very expensive one. What Captain Mackenzie has proposed, following a scheme carried out successfully inthe Malay States, is that the Councit
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.