688 Dietaries of Labouring Prisoners in Indian Jails, [part iv. 



replaced by another, and, in the absence of any fixed rule, the nutritive value of the 

 rations actually issued to the prisoners varies even to a greater extent than these tables 

 indicate. It is therefore very desirable that some general principle should be adopted 

 as regards the quantities of the several grains and pulses which should be used, as, 

 even judged from their chemical composition alone, they are far from being of equiva- 

 lent value and cannot be issued measure for measure. Were satisfactory information 

 obtained from officers practically conversant with the dieting of large bodies of men as 

 to the value which should be attached to these several food-stuffs, in addition to what 

 we know of their chemical composition, and as to the most satisfactory manner of cook- 

 ing them, the difficulty of preparing scales of diets suitable for the several provinces 

 would be very materially diminished and dietaries could be devised in which the nutritive 

 values would not present such extreme discrepancies as are now manifested even in the 

 standard scales. 



83. So far as our knowledge of these matters permits of an opinion being formed, 

 it would seem that the dietaries which have been in force in India during recent years, 

 have not been insufficient. Indeed, an examination of the tabular statement above 

 given shows that native labouring prisoners in every province in India have been, 

 weight for weight, better fed than either convict or other prisoners in England. In 

 British Burma the maximum diet is lower, but only as regards the nitrogenous elements, 

 and, even in this respect, Burmese prisoners receive proportionately a larger quantity 

 than Dr. Eanke (who was not a vegetarian) found was enough to maintain himself in 

 health whilst performing a moderate amount of work. It has been shown in the pre- 

 ceding chapter that the lowest scales are by no means associated with the most 

 unfavourable health-returns, but that, on the contrary, in those instances where enquiry 

 has been especially made, the results in this respect were even better than those 

 associated with the most liberal diet scales, though this, of course, may be a mere 

 coincidence. When the scales of diets are calculated so as to be just sufficient for the 

 maintenance of labouring communities in health and no more, it goes without saying 

 that the most stringent measures should be adopted that the quality of the staple 

 articles of food and notably of the fresh vegetables is unexceptionable, and that the 

 cooking and the issue of the rations should be most closely supervised. The fulfilment 

 of some such conditions as these is absolutely essential to the success of any scale of 

 diet. It is believed that they are strictly carried out in English prisons ; and were the 

 penalties of non-fulfilment sufficiently severe in Indian jails, there does not appear to 

 be any reason why scales of diet for native prisoners framed, as already indicated, on 

 the basis of those diets which have proved so successful in England, should not prove 

 equally successful in this country. 



84. As above stated (para. 77), the proportion of the alimentary principles con- 

 tained in the maximum diet scale of English Local Prisons, which should suffice for 

 persons of an average weight of 110 lbs., amounts to about 3 oz. of albuminates, 15 

 oz. of carbo-hydrates, and 1 oz. of fats. In such a diet the proportion of carbo-hydrates 



