• ON THE LOCAL TAXATION OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN, 319 " REPORT of the Committee of Limerick Gaol, dated May 1823. " THE county of Limerick gaol began in the year 1817, was occupied in Febru- ary 1822. It is built upon what is called the windmill plan, having five wings with a centre building, containing the governor's house, chapel and infirmary, covered by a flat roof, on which the convalescents take the air; each of the five buildings is divided longitudinally into two separate wards ; and each of those ten wards having its yard, pump and privy. There are from twelve to fourteen cells, and one day room to each ward, the whole accommodation afforded being 125 cells and 10 day rooms, besides five solitary cells, each with its separate yard ; the walls of the yards are fourteen feet high, and there is a spacious insulated area, surrounded by a wall twenty- two feet high; within this passage and near the entrance lodge, are the public kitchen, the laundry, baths, turnkeys and matron's apartments and clerk's office ; opposite to these and within the area, it is intended to erect a stepping mill for grinding corn and dressing flour, and another for scutching flax; water is at present, distributed all through the prison, and raised to the top of the centre building, by means of two forcing pumps, worked by stepping wheels and requiring four persons each as the moving power ; the governor's garden and a small bleach yard occupy another portion of the area. The ten wards are allotted as follows : No. 1, debtors master's side ; No. 2, debtors commons side; No. 3, males charged with capital felonies and under minor charge, if previously convicted of any felo- nious offence; No. 4, males charged with simple felonies ; No. 5, males misde- menants, first class; No. 6, ditto, second class not before committed, and boys, No. 7, male convicts of felony ; No. 8, male convicts of misdemeanor; No. 9, males under rule of bail revenue cases, and boys under sentence ; No. 10, females; female debtors in a detached cell; the average number of females in the county prison seldom exceeding four in the year, it is in contemplation to divide their ward into two, and to make strong cells for condemned culprits at the inner side. The establishment of this gaol consists of a governor, at the salary of 300 I. a year; a clerk and store keeper at 40 I.; first turnkey, 3.5 I.; two other turnkeys, 30 I. each; matron, 30/.; nurse, 25/.; physician, 50/.; surgeon, 50/.; apothecary and in- spector, 45/. the same individual filling the two offices; chaplains, protestant and Roman catholic, 501. each; schoolmaster, 40 I. There are ten wardsmen and two cooks, taken from amongst the prisoners; and most of the washing is done by women under confinement. " There is a board of superintendence appointed under the istand 2d of George the 4th, chapter 57, who have framed a code of regulations for the prison, and meet weekly to inspect it; the regulations have been chiefly adopted from those of the prison discipline society of England, and the rules of Maidstone gaol, with such variations as local circumstances appeared to require: the dietary consists of two meals per day, the breakfast seven ounces of groats made into three pints of very thick gruel or stir- about, and one pint of new milk for each person; for dinner each person is allowed three pounds and half of potatoes and one pint of sour milk, the cost of both meals is less than three- pence. The prisoners under long sentence of confinement are clothed completely, and all requiring linen or other articles of dress are provided with them; each prisoner sleeps in a separate cell, unless when the gaol is unusually full, upon an iron bedstead, furnished with a bedtick filled with straw, a pair of sheets and two or three blankets, according to the season ; prayers are read every morning after roll called in chapel, by the catholic chaplain, or person appointed by him ; the school master attends each ward every second day, giving two or three hours to each for instruction and reading approved works, and there is a small library in the gaol from which the prisoners are supplied with books suited to their description and wants. No sufficient system of hard labour has yet been introduced into this gaol, but all prisoners condemned to labour, and as many others as are required, are kept to raising water, breaking stones, and such work as is found necessary in a new prison, so as to fill up most of their time on those days when the school master does not visit their ward ; a tread- mill will be erected this summer and a regular course of labour immediately established ; by the 3d of George 4th, chapter 64, all prisoners receiving the county allowance of food are to be kept to work, one third of their earnings being allowed to them. The gaol has now been occupied little more than a year, a time too short to allow any accurate judgment to be formed of the regulations and practice adopted in it; it has, however, been ascertained that the cleanliness and regularity which prevails throughout the esta- 540. 3 Q biishment,