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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. II., PART II. 



this advantage ; and the benefits which have subsequently 

 accrued to the establishment from this course would 

 never have been realised had not Government, on the urgent 

 representation of the Civil Engineer, sanctioned the pay- 

 ment of a small allowance to each prisoner who should 

 attain a certain degree of proficiency in his trade. This 

 allowance was fixed at three farthings per diem to those 

 actively and diligently employed learning a trade, and six 

 farthings per diem to the expert, or first class workman ; any 

 act of misconduct or breach of jail rules to entail the forfei- 

 ture of the whole. This allowance, however, only applies to 

 labour performed under estimates sanctioned by Government. 



It is a curious fact connected with the history of Prison 

 Discipliue in Geylon that the admission of a tradesman to 

 the jail is of very rare occurrence ; out of a hundred pri- 

 soners committed, there will not be more than one who has 

 been brought up to any trade. It would seem therefore 

 that when the natives are able to earn the ordinary wages 

 of a mechanic they rarely resort to dishonesty. 



It will be obvious that in proportion as the savings of 

 the tradesman accumulate, so will his endeavours to prevent 

 their forfeiture increase, hence the prison government 

 possesses a powerful incentive to good behaviour on the part 

 of the workmen, and cases of misconduct amongst them are 

 of very rare occurrence. 



The mode of selecting prisoners for instruction in trades 

 is as follows:— On his admission the prisoner is first sent 

 to work at cooly labour in the road gangs or at the cabook 

 quarries, and there kept under a course of probation for some 

 time, when, if his overseer is able to make a favourable 

 report of his conduct and diligence at work, he is placed as 

 an apprentice in one of the workshops ; a choice of trades 

 is generally accorded to him if practicable, and the usual 

 results of promotion to second class work, and after a time 

 from second to first class, in most cases follow. 



