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3.1. What punishment did you get for attempting to abscond? —At dinner-time on Tuesday the Matron came as I was going down the passage, and she thumped me on my back down the passage. 32. Where did she thump you? —She punched me on the back into the cell. That was on the Tuesday. I got three meals of dry bread and a cup of milk, and on Thursday or Friday—l am not quite sure which—l got ten strokes of the strap on a mattress on the floor. 33. Is that the strap used [produced]?— Yes, I think so. 34. Were you made to lie on a mattress on the floor ?—Yes. 35. Was any one present when these strokes were administered? —Yes, Miss Hunt witnessed. 36. Were they fairly heavy strokes? —Yes, very heavy. The Matron told me she was going to give them as hard as she could lay them on. 37. And she did?— Yes. 38. How long were you in the cell?—I was in the cell, I think, but lam not quite sure, a week. I came out on the following Sunday. 39. And you went in on a Tuesday morning?— Yes. 40. The Commissioner.] Were you in the cell the whole time?—l slept in the cell Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and one or two nights in the dormitory after that. Then I was taken back to the cell first thing in the morning and locked in until about 10 o'clock, and then one of the staff let me out into the detention-yard. 41. Mr. Salter.] How long ago was this?— Last October. 42. During the time you were locked up in the cell, were you visited by any one except at meal-time?— No. On one occasion Miss Mills came in; that was the second time I ran away. I got up in the loft, and was there all day. All I had on was my nightdress, and a blanket and a pillow without a pillow-case and no mattress. : 43. Miss Mills came in to see you ?—Yes, on Sunday morning, just to ask me about the other girls who had run away. She asked me if I saw anything about them from the loft, and I said Yes. 44. Is that the only occasion during that day on which you were visited except at meal-times? —Yes. 45. When you have absconded, and have been put in the cell, what meals do you get for the following day?— Three meals of dry bread and water. 46. You never go from one morning until the next morning without food?— No. On Saturday morning I got into the loft about 10 o'clock, and I never had anything to eat until the Sunday morning at 9 o'clock, when I had dry bread and water. 47. When they found you and brought you in they did not give you anything to eat?—No not until Sunday morning. 48. Did you have one of these pretty dresses [the runaway dress produced] on when you came out?— Yes. 49. How long did you wear that?—l wore that until January. 50. Were you present when G J had six strokes ?—I was locked in the other cell 51. When was it you had your hair cut off?—On the 9th November—Show Day. That is the day I had twelve strokes with the strap. 52. Do you know anything about the room called the reception-room?— Yes. 53. Have you ever been taken there?— No. ; 54. Have you ever heard the Matron make remarks about certain girls before the other girls?— Yes. 55. What have you heard ?—She always tells us when a girl comes back from service what she does, and there is always something disagreeable about that; and certain names she calls the girls. 56 What are the names?— She called one girl "an infuriated animal." She called L I a vulgar brawler." 57. What else?— She tells the girls they cannot contain themselves when there is a man on the premises. 58. How do you get on ordinarily with the members of the staff?—l get on fairly well with the staff. Sometimes I get blamed for things Ido not do, and I get punished for it. 59. Do visitors ever come along?— Yes; but I never speak to"them. 60. Have you ever been told you may speak to the Official Visitor about anything?—l never asked to speak to the Official Visitor, because I was told by another girl I was not allowed to speak to them. Another girl told the doctor that the Matron boxed her ears, and she had a time of it. 61. Can you tell me the name of the girl to whom this happened?—C A complained to the doctor that the Matron boxed her ears, and C said she got a time of it afterwards- so 1 made up my mind I would not get a time of it, and so I kept quiet. • 6 m\. A ™ the girk here ever allowed to read the newspaper, or to hear about what is going on ?—The Matron at prayer-time tells us what is going on in town, and if anything big or special selves 11 * 1 m llews P a P ers s h e tells us, but we are never allowed to read'the newspapers 0ur.63 Are you allowed to talk to one another at meal-times ?—No; we do it, but it is against the rules, and if we are found out we are sent from the room, without being allowed to finish our XiiBSLl. 64. Supposing you were to speak to another girl at the beginning of a meal and were sent out, would youget anything until the next meal-time ?—We do get it sent out to us sometimes but not always. When it is sent out we get half-rations.

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