POLICE
(Contd.)
220 805
Let us explore the matter of numbers a little, and we find that there is a No. 1 Station still in existence. This is not shown in the telephone directory, but on enquiry I am given to understand that one can communicate with it via the No. 2. However, this No. 1 Station must be one of the oldest Police premises still in use. It is situated in Happy Valley, across the road from what is now known as Lee Gardens. Next we come to the old No. 2, which until recently occupied a site at the junction of Wanchai Road with what used to be the old Praya East. Now that this station has moved to its almost palatial quarters on the Wanchai seafront, it still retains (officially) its well-known number.
We have shown that Nos. 3 and 4 have disappeared, and we find that No. 5 is also missing from the list. This was formerly at the junction of Wellington Street and Queen's Road, and was afterwards the site of the old Fire Station.
The No. 6 (Victoria Peak substation) and No. 7 (Saiyingpun, now accommodated in the old Sailors' Home), are still so named and there was a No. 8 seemingly replaced by the Upper Levels Station on Hospital Road. It appears that there were originally nine stations, and the numbering never went beyond that point. The No. 9 was situated at Caine Road. The course of time has seen the gradual substitution of names for numbers: and already the No. 2 is usually referred to as the Wanchai Station. Yet we must admit that the old system had its obvious advantages at a time when the population was more scattered and far from being as dense as it is to-day, so that localities were not so important in the designations.
It is somewhat difficult to trace the actual dates when these various stations were built. We learn from the old records that the local Police force was not organised as a body until 1844, three years after the Colony had been founded, and we find also that three Police Stations (probably the very earliest ones) were erected in the city area in 1845. In 1847 it is recorded, a Police station was built at Queen's Road East, and this was most probably the old No. 3. It seems that the numbering came some time after the various premises had been erected.
In 1847 the first Aberdeen Police Station was also built, since replaced by a more modern structure. In 1853 the Caine Road Station, known eventually as No. 9 was built, and in the same year the Wongneichong station (presumably the present No. 1) was completed. Three subsidiary Police Stations (not for the present identified) as well as the original Central Station, were built in 1857; and the original Saiyingpun building, No. 7 Station, we know definitely was built in 1858, though the premises were superseded by a new structure in 1902. A station appears also to have been built at Stanley in 1859.
The first stations at Pokfulum and Shaukiwan were built in 1861 but in 1872 the Shaukiwan building was given up for a new structure. We are able to identify the No. 4 Station in 1863, the year when it was built on the border of the military property. In 1865 a new Central Police Station and barracks were constructed.
It is not until 1868 that we find a reference to the old No. 2 Station, that being the year of its construction. The Police Station No. 6 at Victoria Gap was erected in 1869; and in 1871 Whitfield (Causeway Bay) was also provided with a Police Station.
In 1872 one of the oldest stations on the mainland, the one at Hunghom, was built; but it was superseded in 1885. Yaumati had its first police station in 1873. It was not until 1884 that the Water Police Station was erected at Tsimshatsui, Kowloon.
In 1887 a Police station was erected at Kennedy Town (afterwards used as an infectious diseases hospital) and another station at ...