POLICE
(Contd.)
7808
District Watchmen came into existence as such. However, we can find several interesting references to earlier precautions against robbers.
Owing to the lawlessness instanced above, by 1844 a system of private watchmen had come into existence, but whether it was exactly efficient is doubtful. Every European householder employed one of these gentry, whose job was to patrol outside the premises throughout the night, and in order to prove his wakefulness (and possibly that the robbers had not "got" him) had to beat on a hollow bamboo. The most popular instrument with which to create the necessary sound was composed of two pieces of bamboo, struck together smartly, at intervals. Needless to say, this was not conducive to slumber for anybody in the vicinity, and these "bamboo-beatings," were in 1844 considered disturbing by the then General Officer Commanding the Forces, Major General D'Aguilar. There was much correspondence in the Press on the subject when an Order-in-Council prohibited this custom; one writer saying that "because an elderly gentleman could not sleep soundly, with the bamboo sounding in his ear, the treasure and goods in the godowns, stores and houses of the inhabitants will be laid open to the depredations of robbers."
In accordance with the prohibitory order, the police deprived the watchmen of their bamboos, but it is recorded that rattles, gongs and bells were quickly substituted therefor.
Consequently, the first local Ordinance against creating noise which had been introduced in 1843 (see 10-7-33) had to be invoked.
But the position was hardly satisfactory, and it is obvious the government of the time was at a loss what to do. In a proclamation of 1843, Chinese were not allowed out between 8 and 10 p.m. unless they carried "a large lanthorn," and no-one was permitted to be in the streets after 10 p.m. without a pass.
By 1844 the Government already contemplated the creation of a special body of street police to cope with robbers. In a letter sent to the leading commercial firms, the Government suggested that such a force would keep watch at night and be of great assistance in the event of robbers descending on the town in too great numbers for the constable on duty to cope with. It was suggested that if this plan were carried out, it would be possible to a great extent to do away with the necessity of employing private watchmen.
What came of the proposal is not disclosed, but it is obvious that makeshift methods, or the dependence on private enterprise, were both unsatisfactory and inequitable.
The creation of a better Police force in 1845 must have been welcome enough, yet we still find the authorities depending on private individuals three years later, when in 1847, European householders were ordered to supplement the imperfect street lighting by suspending lamps in front of the doors of their houses.
Matters appear to have improved somewhat for a time, but as late as 1871 we find it recorded that the Police were considered to have become inadequate for the preservation of law and order, the public being specially incensed by an attack on Mr. G. L. Tomlin (later to become Superintendent of the local Gaol), who was knocked down and robbed close to the Central Police Station. A public meeting decided to call for a commission of enquiry, and a commission was appointed by the Governor Sir Richard Macdonnell (see 14-10-33) in December 1871, and various reforms were gradually introduced, though it is worthy of note that a request which had been sent Home to the Colonial Office, for an enquiry into the Police system of the Colony, was turned down by Earl Kimberley.