My guess here is the REFORMATORY caning by a wide margin.48inches by half inch of prime Malayasian rattan says it all.
An absconder on his IMMEDIATE return to the school can expect,in fact, to get, EIGHT forceful strokes from the aforementioned cane and for the most gravest offenses strokes!!
The kind of pain and bruising a caning of this severity can inflict doesn’t even bear thinking about and I can’t possibly see how a 16/18-year-old lad could take a heavy beating like this without having to be forcibly held down, indeed it would be little wonder if he never passed out which has me thinking that such a severe caning could only be tolerated if given in two separate bouts; the first six immediately, the second six a few hours later.