quote the report of the late Colonel Fraser, of the
Bengal Engineers, which ran as follows:--

"As an Engineer Officer of the D.P.W., I have had a good deal
of experience as regards the management of jails in India and
Burmah, and have, of course, employed much convict labour, but
I have never been in any jail where the arrangements are so
perfect as in that of Singapore. While the discipline under
which the convicts are held is obviously most efficient, the
skill with which their labour is directed will be equally
obvious to all who will take the trouble, as I have done, to go
into the detail of their operations, and look at the results in
the many large works which have been executed at Singapore.

I went over the brick field with Captain McNair, and while I
found that the greatest reasonable amount of work was got out
of each man, I also found that the work turned out was the best
I have seen in India. Where there are good bricks, other work
is seen to be equally good, and when a proper amount of work is
required per convict, then the discipline must be also good; I
measured myself what the men were expected to do, and found it
to be three cubic yards in eight hours. This is the full task
of a European sapper in the same time."

Our lime and cement were made from coral, of which there were extensive
reefs round the Island of Singapore, and some few "atolls" (a Cingalese
word), or special coral islands. Coral is almost a pure carbonate of
lime, and therefore very well suited for the purpose. It was broken up
and heated in kilns constructed for the purpose. The cement was made
from this lime, and from selected clay, in the proportions we had by
careful experiments established, until we obtained a good and
quick-setting article. It was made into small balls and then dried, and
burnt in a special kiln, and afterwards well and finely ground and
sifted by female convicts; its tensile strength was excellent.

[Illustration: CONVICTS STONE-QUARRYING, AT PULO OBIN, SINGAPORE.

_Plate XX._]

STONE QUARRYING (see Plate XX.).

The stone we used for all our building operations was procured from an
island between Singapore East and the mainland of Johore, and was named
Pulo Obin. It is about three miles long and three-quarters of a mile
broad. The stone was the best possible form of crystallised granite,
fine grained, very compact and durable, gr