AN IRISH CONVICT FARM.

Southland Times, Issue 637, 27 February 1867, Page 3

AN IRISH CO NVICT FA RM.

The Freeman* s Journal gives the following description of the convict farm at Lusk, in Dublin : — " The farm is situated about one mile from the Bush and Lusk Station on the Brogheda Bailway, and commands a fine prospect of the surrounding country, with the sea and Lambay Island in the distance to the south-east. Entering by a green lane from the high road, the visitor finds himself in a kind of camp square, on which are erected two oblong buildings of corrugated iron, one serving as a dormitory and dining-hall, and the other as a workshop. At the opposite side of the square is the cook-boa? e, superintendent's" office, and officers' quarters, and at the rear, stables and cow-house. Along the boundary wall on the western side are long sheds in which the convicts break stones on wet days. All the buildings have been erected by the prisoners. The arrangements in the dormitory are quite man-of-war fashion. Hammocks were never stowed away in " the nettings" more economically than the beds, bedsteads and bedding are arranged along the sides of the apartment, which is lined with timber, and furnished with an American stove in the centre of the floor. The arrangements for ventilation and lighting are excellent. In the workshops provision has been made for^erforming the necessary carpenter's work required on the farm, which, taken all in all, would remind a person of what he had read of a well arranged and circumstanced seettlement in th c colonies. Thepersons who are admissible to become occupiers of the farm as workers are the convicts who have passed through a severe probationary course in Smithfield, Mount) py, and Spike Island penitentiaries, and the books in which the biographies of each is kept tell how strict and severe is the exactitude of the dicipline they are subjected to. In one column is the name of the offender, and the offence of which he was convicted, and in a number of others is the record of his rising from class to class by good conduct, and also the petty transgressions which threw him back again. The 'Doomsday Book' tells many a weary story of the erring man toiling up to goodness, and his occasional falls in the steep ascent which he seeks to climb, and, perhaps, that book tells of his not getting help enough, or minor obstacles being put on the road of bis progress. Occasionally he is tripped up by red tape drawn across his path back to goodness, and often retarded in his progress to good by what is called discipline. The average number of convicts at Xusk farm is generally 55 ; but at present there are 47. They are principally engaged in farm operations, and some notion will be formed of the good which has been accomplished when a glance is given at the following facts. There are at present contained in the farm 170 acres, divided as follows : — Wheat, 38 acres ; oats 28 acres ; potatoes, 24 acres ; mangolds, 4 acres ; turnips, 4 acres ; carrots, 1 acre ; meadow, 36 acres ; grazing land, 31 acres ; rape, 2 acres. Pourteen well-bred young pigs are being reared, and fifteen head of cattle are on the land. This is all good and in a right direction, but it is not enongh now that a great plan has been tried and found to work wonderfully. Persons should not suppose that the convicts are pampered or over-fed — in no prison is the work half so severe, and out of the sixpence a week allowed to each they generally invest it in the purchase of bread. The day of the convict is divided as follows : — At five o'clock the bell rings for all to rise, fold beds and dress ; half-past five, officers' parade and unlocking of dormitories ; quarter to six, prayer ; six o'clock, breakfast or stir-about and milk ; half-past six, parade and proceed in classes to work; twelve o'clock, dinner — on four days beef, bread and potatoes, on three days potatoes, milk and bread ; one o'clock, resume work ; five o'clock, supper of bread and coffee : half-past five, school and lecture by Mr Daly, discipline officer and registrar ; halfpast seven p.m., make beds ; quarter to eight, prayer ; eight, lock up ; and nine, bed. We walked through the farm as the convicts were engaged reaping, under the direction of Mr Gallaher, agricultural superintendent. They were honest workers, trying to make amends tor wrong done ; and all our sympathies and best wishes were with the reapers, with whom all good men should be to help and encourage, and aid them in their strivings to get back to the positions they had lost. The day wound up with a most instructive lecture to the convicts, by -Mr O'Eeyan, who took for the subject, ' Crime : its causes, and its results.' He was heard with deep attention by the convicts, and as the shadows of evening fell on the wide-spreading landscape, the convicts of Lusk joined in prayer after a day's hard toil in a field of honest labor."