Part 10 (1/2)
Hospital and Nursery-The internal economy of the hospital and nursery yards will be regulated by the medical attendant, who will accordingly frame a code of regulations which, when approved by the Lieutenant Governor, are to be strictly observed by the individuals intrusted [sic] with the duties of these yards. The medical officer is punctually to attend the establishment every morning, whether there are or are not any sick women.
General Regulations.
1. None of the inferior officers shall absent themselves from the establishment without first obtaining the superintendent's authority.
2. No officer belonging to the establishment shall be permitted to receive under any pretence whatever any gratuity or present, either pecuniary or otherwise from persons with whom the government shall have contracted for the supply of any article for the establishment, or from persons who may visit the establishment, or have any work performed in it,-in plain language, no persons employed in the establishment are, either directly or indirectly; to receive any gratuity or reward whatever beyond the salary and allowance granted by the government.
3. No female who shall have been returned from service for misconduct, shall be allowed to be again a.s.signed until she shall have undergone a probation of not less than three months in the second cla.s.s; in cases of frequent misconduct in previous service not less than six months, and in all cases of dishonesty not less than twelve.
4. The conduct of the task women, wards women and overseer, will be considered when they apply for any indulgence.
5. The testimony of the superintendent as to the character of any female applicant for indulgence, who has been placed in the house of correction, will be indispensable before her application can be considered.
6. No female will be allowed to marry from the second or third cla.s.ses, nor indeed from the first unless she can obtain a favourable certificate from the princ.i.p.al superintendent.
7. Every female, except such as may be exempted by a certificate from the medical attendant, will be required to attend prayers both morning and evening, and divine service whenever performed in the chapel.
8. One bible, together with such books as the chaplain may recommend, will be allowed to each mess, of which the task woman of the cla.s.s shall have charge, and for she preservation of which she shall be held accountable.
9. No officer or servant of the establishment shall supply any female convict with other provisions or comforts of any kind than those allowed by the regulations. Neither is any clothing, nor other articles whatever, to be permitted to be delivered to any convict in the House of Correction, nor are any letters or notes to be given them unless the same shall have been first opened and perused by the superintendent, by whom they will be destroyed if they be not from relatives or approved friends, and of a proper character and tendency.
Any person, connected with the establishment who shall disobey the orders contained in this regulation, if free shall be immediately dismissed, and if a convict shall be severely punished under the sentence of the princ.i.p.al superintendent.
10. No fires are to be allowed but such as are sanctioned by the princ.i.p.al superintendent, and be is to define the supply of fuel for the superintendent, free overseer, porter, constables and others, according to the general regulations of the government.
11. No poultry, pigeons, or pigs shall be kept within the walls of the establishment, nor is smoking on any account to be allowed.
12. It is to be distinctly explained by the princ.i.p.al superintendent to all the free officers employed within the establishment, and by the superintendent to all the female convicts on their admission that the utmost cleanliness, the greatest quietness, perfect regularity, and entire submission are laid down as fundamental laws of the establishment; and according to the degree of offending against any of them, punishment of some kind is invariably to follow. If these be observed, patient industry will appear, and reformation of character must be the result.
13. The Rev. Mr. Norman will superintend the religious instruction of the establishment occasionally during the week, and will perform divine service at least once every Sunday, and the resident superintendent will at all times give facility to any arrangement proposed by the chaplain for the more convenient a.s.sembly of the women, provided such arrangements do not militate against the established regulations of the House of Correction.
14. A general inspection of the establishment shall be made on the first Tuesday in every month by a committee, which shall be appointed by the Lieut. Governor, when a general return of the receipts and expenditure shall be furnished, together with a report exhibiting the number of females received and discharged during the preceding month, and a particular statement of their conduct, and the quant.i.ty of work performed. The observations of the committee, or of any authorized visitor will be entered in a book kept open for that purpose.-(D).
By His Excellency's command, J. BURNETT.
Colonial Secretary's Office, Jan. 1, 1829.
APPENDIX 6.
COLONIAL TIMES.
Friday 4 March 1831, page 4 .
Rules and Regulations for Young Ladies At fifteen.-Affect vivacity, and line your bonnets with pink. If in company with an agreeable gentleman, hold your breath long enough to blush when he speaks to you, and incline your eyes downwards when giving an answer.
At sixteen.-Seem to have a high spirit, but show the most unbounded submission to the opinion of the favoured [sic] one. You may now (when in conversation) look in a gentleman's face, but be cautious that the eyebrows are kept well arched. Affect a great liking for little babies, and get the credit of being an excellent nurse.
At seventeen.-Read the news of literature and fas.h.i.+on, and form your opinion of the follies of the day, upon their mode. Condemn a taste for public amus.e.m.e.nts, and talk of the happiness of retirement, and of domestic life. Simper ”nimming pimming,” to put your lips in pretty shape, and kiss children before gentlemen, that they may look and envy. Wear frocks as low as the fas.h.i.+on will allow, but still leave much to conjecture.
At eighteen.-Look out seriously for a husband, and be everywhere upon your best behaviour [sic], taking great care not to smell of bread and b.u.t.ter.
At nineteen.-Go to routs and parties, but avoid general flirting. Dress fas.h.i.+onably, but with great neatness and propriety. Wear no flowers in your hair, but let the curls have an appearance of simple negligence.
At twenty.-Consider yourself in some danger of remaining single, and suit your conduct to your circ.u.mstances.
At twenty-one.-Be less particular than heretofore, for time begins to wane.
At twenty-two.-Think seriously of paying a visit to some friend at Madras or Calcutta.
At twenty-three.-Marry any body that is not downright intolerable.
At twenty-four.-You cease to be a young lady, and must manage as well as you can.
APPENDIX 7.
COLONIAL TIMES.
Tuesday 10 March 1840, page 4 .
Female Factory-The Flash Mob!
On more than one occasion, as our readers may recollect, have we directed the attention of the proper authorities, to the laxity of discipline, which is practised at the Female House of Correction, near this town. Did nothing further result from this heedlessness, than a winking at certain harmless pastimes, indulged in by the inmates, we should not again bring forward the subject, thus prominently; but information has reached us of so flagrant and revolting a character, that we cannot, under any consideration, remain silent.
We have appended to the t.i.tle of this article, the term ”Flash Mob”; that this term is technical, is sufficiently obvious; but few of our readers,-few, indeed, of any who possess the ordinary attributes of human nature, can even conjecture the frightful abominations, which are practised by the women, who compose this mob. Of course, we cannot pollute our columns with the disgusting details, which have been conveyed to us; but we may, with propriety, call the notice of the proper Functionaries to a system of vice, immorality, and iniquity, which has tended, mainly, to render the majority of female a.s.signed servants, the annoying and untractable animals, that they are.
The Flash Mob at the Factory consists, as it would seem, of a certain number of women, who, by a simple process of initiation, are admitted into a series of unhallowed mysteries, similar, in many respects, to those which are described by Goethe, in his unrivalled Drama of Faust, as occurring, on particular occasions, amongst the supposed supernatural inhabitants of the Hartz Mountains. Like those abominable Saturnalia, they are performed in the dark and silent hour of night, but, unlike those, they are performed in solitude and secrecy, amongst only the duly initiated. With the fiendish fondness for sin, every effort, both in the Factory, and out of it, is made by these wretches, to acquire proselytes to their infamous practices; and, it has come to our knowledge, within these few days, that a simple minded girl, who had been in one and the same service, since she left the s.h.i.+p,-a period of nearly six months,-very narrowly escaped seduction (we can use no stronger term) by a well known, and most accomplished member of this unholy sisterhood.
This practice const.i.tutes one of the rules of the ”order;” and we need not waste many words to show how perniciously it must act upon the ”new hands,” exposed to its influence. Another rule is, that, should any member be a.s.signed, she must return to the Factory, so soon as she has obtained (we need not say by what means) a sufficient sum of money to enable herself and her companion to procure such indulgences, as the Factory can supply,-or, rather, as can be supplied by certain individuals, connected with the Factory. This sufficiently accounts for the contempt, which the majority of female prisoners entertain for the Factory, while it shows, also, why the solitary cell is considered the worst punishment.