s;[3] and with
the view to uniformity of practice, the Government of India had
previously deputed Major, now General, Forlong to prepare a code of
rules based on those in force in the Singapore jail.

[Footnote 3: Now under the able management of Col. R. C.
Temple, C.I.E.]

When the transfer was fully effected, the new office of Comptroller of
Indian Convicts was created, and the whole of those Indian convicts in
the three settlements were placed under his charge. The "Butterworth
Rules" remained in force, with certain alterations and improvements,
until the disestablishment of the whole department in 1873.

As many of the convicts were continued to be employed at Penang and
Province Wellesley on roads and works at a distance from the main jail,
it was necessary to provide accommodation for them in convict lines, or
"commands," as we have said, pronounced "kumman" by the convicts.[4] It
will be interesting to give some particulars about them: They consisted
of a stockaded fence, constructed of rough poles of wood from four to
six inches in diameter, and from ten to twelve feet long, set
perpendicularly in a trench about two feet deep, and placed close
together, being secured longitudinally by adze-dressed poles nailed
securely on the outside and along the top of them. The stockade enclosed
an area sufficient for the erection of the dormitory, cooking place, and
sheds for the bullocks employed in carts to convey road material, and
for protection also against the possible attacks of wild animals. The
walls of the dormitory were constructed in what is well known as "wattle
and daub." They were made with stout stakes driven firmly into the
ground at about one foot apart, twigs of trees were then interwoven, and
the whole then thickly plastered with a mixture of clay and cowdung, and
when this had become thoroughly dry it was coated with whitewash. This
formed both a substantial, and at the same time a sanitary walling,
which was frequently treated with a further coating of limewash made
thin. The dormitories were ten feet high, with a continuous open grating
of wooden bars at the top, under the eaves of the roof, for the purpose
of complete ventilation. The sleeping platforms were raised three feet
off the ground floor, which was covered with the same composition as
that of the walls, and the building was roofed with thatch. In the
centre of the dormitory an earthenware brazier of burning charcoal was
always main