MR. LESLIEsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for India, Whether' there is any foundation for the statements contained in the Letter of the Indian Correspondent of The Times which appeared in that paper on Friday last, regarding the condition of the great Gaol at Calcutta—
That it is a den of iniquity, a sink of filth; that no one could inform the President of the sanitary Commission how many prisoners died in the gaol; that the medical attendant could not say for certain what the mortality was; and that some prisoners have been murdered by the native gaolers in the attempt to extort bribes from them and their friends.And whether Her Majesty's Government will consent to lay upon the table of the House the Report of Mr. Strachey, the President of the Sanitary Commission, on the subject of Calcutta and other Indian Prisons?
§ SIR CHARLES WOOD,in reply, said, he had seen the statement to which the hon. Gentleman had called attention, and he could only say that it was very shocking, if true. He had received no information himself upon the subject, and therefore he was unable either to confirm or contradict the statement. It seemed, how- 707 ever, very improbable, for this reason, that under the existing Act Visiting Justices had been appointed, and it was the duty of one or more of those gentlemen, who were independent gentlemen of Calcutta, to visit the gaols three times in each quarter, and to make a Report as to their condition. In the last Report which he had received the Commissioners, after going into considerable detail as to the number of prisoners and other matters, said, "We beg to state that the management of the gaol appears to be satisfactory." Now, it was hardly likely, if such a state of things existed as the hon. Gentleman had referred to, that such a Report would have been made so recently as last winter, not by Government officials, but by independent gentlemen.
§ SIR CHARLES WOODCertainly. I apprehend if the statement in the letter quoted by the hon. Member be true, the Sanitary Commission which has been recently appointed for Bengal has already inquired into the state of the case. I am not in possession of the Report, but no doubt it will be sent.