igging.

INDUSTRIES (EXTRA-MURAL).

It will be quite superfluous to give an account in detail of the method
pursued in brick and tile making, for the process is known to every one.
Suffice it to say that Colonel Faber, R.E., as previously noted, was the
first to introduce the manufacture on Government account; he opened a
place at Rochore, near the present gasworks, and employed free labour.
The system was what is known as the "dry" and sand-moulding system, and
the bricks were burned in clamps. All that could be said of these bricks
was that they were better than those made by the Chinese at that time,
but they were not a success, and the manufacture was after two or three
years given up.

In 1858 we started, on a systematic principle, under a trained European
brick maker, an extensive brick field on the Serangoon Road, about three
miles from the town, where there was a considerable bed of excellent
clay for the purpose. The site, too, was well situated near the banks of
an inlet from the sea, and affording great facility for water carriage,
and with a palm grove close at hand, under the shade of which the
convicts were allowed to roam without restraint when their work was
over. Sheds, kilns, pug-mills, moulding tables, and all the necessary
appliances for hand-made bricks were soon set on foot, and a large
dormitory, surrounded by a stout precinct fence, was built for the
number of convicts required for the manufacture, approximating to about
120 of all classes, except those in irons.

Our process was commonly known as "slop-moulding," each moulder turning
out from 2,500 to 3,000 bricks in the course of the day. After the
second year, when the convicts had become accustomed to the work, and to
adapt themselves to each other, we were able to supply all that were
needed for the public works, and even to export them for works at
Malacca. In tabulating the account of the value of their labour and the
outlay for fuel, and comparing it with the recognised value of the
bricks, there was found to be a credit to the State in most years. (See
Appendix No. 4.)

When, in 1867, there was an Agricultural Exhibition at Agra, in the N.W.
Provinces of India, we sent up specimens of bricks, tiles, drain pipes
of all sizes, and stable flooring bricks, manufactured by these
convicts, for which the Superintendent gained the silver medal; and if
any further proof is needed of the excellent work turned out by these
convicts, we may