PENAL SERVITUDE 



6O38 



PENCIL 



Penal Servitude. In English 

 criminal law, a form of punishment 

 which superseded transportation 

 by the Penal Servitude Act, 1853. 

 Under the Act, imprisonment may 

 extend from a minimum of three 

 years to a maximum of life. Con- 

 victs sentenced to penal servitude 

 wear a distinctive dress marked by 

 a broad arrow, and are usually em- 

 ployed on useful work of some 

 nature, taught a trade, etc. The 

 clothes for convicts, uniforms for 

 warders, etc., are made, for ex- 

 ample, by convict labour, and many 

 government buildings are erected 

 y convicts. By good conduct a 

 considerable remission of sentence 

 may be earned, and the home 

 secretary is empowered to grant 

 licences or tickets-of -leave to con- 

 victs, upon such conditions as may 

 be thought fit. The Act of 1853 was 

 amended by those of 1861, 1864, 

 and 1891. Convict establishments 

 tor prisoners undergoing penal 

 servitude are Dartmoor and Park- 

 hurst, the former used exclusively 

 for males, the latter being chiefly 

 occupied by prisoners in ill- 

 health, Broadmoor for criminal 

 lunatics, Aylesbury for females, and 

 Peterhead," Scotland. Until 1921 

 Portland was also an important 

 convict prison. See Criminology; 

 Portland ; Prison ; Punishment. 



Penal Statutes. Statutes im- 

 posing penalties or punishments for 

 offences committed against the 

 terms thereof. In construing a 

 penal statute it is the duty of the 

 judge, in all courts where the 

 English system prevails (including 

 America), to adopt the construction 

 most favourable to the person 

 charged with the offence. It is 

 sometimes put in this way: A 

 penal statute must be strictly 

 construed. On the other hand, a 

 remedial statute, passed to remedy 

 a grievance or to confer a benefit, 

 must be widely or liberally con- 

 strued. 



Penance (Lat. poenitenlia, re- 

 pentance). Ecclesiastical term for 

 the turning of a sinner from sin to 

 repentance ; for the acts that form 

 the visible proof of repentance ; 

 for the penitential discipline of the 

 Church, and, in the R.C. com- 

 munion, for the sacrament for the 

 remission of sin committed after 

 baptism, a remission effected by 

 true supernatural sorrow, sincere 

 confession, satisfaction, and priestly 

 absolution. In the R.C. Church, 

 confession of mortal sin is held to 

 be an absolute duty, and the sinner 

 is bound to seek for absolution. 

 This has been the case since the 

 Lateran Council of 1215. Origin- 

 ally the expiatory part of penance 

 involved heavy and lasting penal- 

 ties. The wearing of sackcloth and 



ashes was once adopted as a sign of 

 repentance ; sometimes delinquents 

 were required to make confession 

 and express sorrow while standing 

 in church clad in a white sheet. 

 In process of time", however, the 

 penalties came to be confined to 

 prayers, fasting, and almsgiving. 

 At one time it was possible for 

 others than the person upon whom 

 penance was imposed to do 

 penance for him, if not altogether, 

 at least in part. Rules, called 

 Penitentials, were drawn up for 

 the guidance of the confessor. See 

 Absolution ; Confession. 



Penang. One of the Straits 

 Settlements. A British crown 

 colony, it comprises the island of 

 Penang, and Province Wellesley 

 on the Malay Peninsula, and fre- 

 quently is taken to include the 

 Bindings with the island of Pang- 

 kor farther S. Penang Island has an 

 area of 108 sq. m., and contains 

 George Town, the great port of N. 

 Malaya. Province Wellesley in- 

 cludes 280 sq. m., and has 45 m. of 

 coast ; it is traversed by the main 

 W. rly. of Malaya from Singapore 

 to Siam, and a branch goes to 

 Prai, whence steam ferries make 

 connexion with George Town. 

 Both Penang and Prov. Wellesley 

 have numerous motor roads. . . 



Penang Island was bought from 

 the native state of Kedah in 1785, 

 and Province Wellesley was ceded 

 by the same state in 1798. The 

 East India Co. administered the 

 territory until 1867, when the 

 crown colony was established. Pop., 

 including the Bindings, 306,000. 

 See Malaya ; Straits Settlements. 



Penang Lawyers (Licuala acu- 

 tifida). Shrub of the natural order 

 Palmae. It is a native of the island 

 of Penang, Malaya. Its stems are 

 about five ft. in length and about 

 an inch thick. At the top there 

 is a tuft of fan-shaped leaves, with 

 prickly stalks. The name belongs 

 properly to the stout walking-sticks 

 into which the stems are converted 

 after scraping and straightening. 



Penarth. Urban dist., water- 

 ing-place, and seaport of Gla- 

 morganshire, Wales. It stands on 

 the Ely, where it 

 falls into Cardiff 

 Bay, 4 m. from 

 Cardiff and 166 m. 

 from London. It 

 has a station on the 

 Taff Vale Rly. For 

 the shipping there 

 is a tidal harbour 

 and commodious 

 docks, with special 

 accommodation for 

 storing coal and oil. 

 The buildings in- 

 clude churches, a 

 technical school. 



and an art gallery. For visitors 

 there is a pier and a fine esplanade, 

 also good bathing. Penarth was 

 nothing but a small village before 

 1859, when work was begun on the 

 harbour. Pop. 15,500. 



Penas, GTJLF OF. Large opening 

 of the Pacific, indenting the coast 

 of Chilean Patagonia. It is 80 m. 

 wide at its mouth and penetrates 

 inland about 70 m., containing the 

 islands of Xavier and Guaianeco. 



Penates. Household gods of the 

 ancient Romans. See Lares. 



Pencil (Lat. penicillum, a little 

 tail). Instrument for writing and 

 drawing. The word is now chiefly 

 used of the black lead or similar 

 pencils, i.e. those pencils made of 

 wood and containing a central 

 core of lead, graphite, coloured 

 chalk, slate, or other material. 

 The modern black lead pencil con- 

 tains no- lead, the writing material 

 being graphite (q.v. ) and clay. 



The earliest writing pencils were 

 made with lead, graphite pencils 

 being introduced into Great Bri- 

 tain in the 16th century. In the 

 modern methods of manufacture, 

 the graphite is reduced to a powder, 

 mixed with clay and water to the 

 consistency of dough, and forced 

 through dies the diameter of the 

 finished lead. The long graphite 

 and clay sticks are dried, cut into 

 pencil lengths, and then heated 

 until all the moisture is thoroughly 

 driven off. The greater the amount 

 of clay in the mixture the harder 

 the pencil. The graphite-clay 

 sticks are then inserted into semi- 

 circular or semi-hexagonal parallel 

 grooves, cut in a slab of wood which 

 is ultimately divided into a number 

 of pencils. A similar grooved 

 slab is laid on the first, glued 

 firmly, the separate pencils cut 

 apart, shaped, polished, varnished, 

 etc. The whole process from be- 

 ginning to end is carried out by 

 machinery. Coloured pencils are 

 made of chalk, clay, etc., with 

 colouring pigments added; copying- 

 ink pencils are made of graphite 

 with an aniline dye added ; while 

 slate pencils may be either unpro- 

 tected rods of slate or wooden 



Penarth, South Wales. The parish church 



