POLICE
(Contd.)
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Deportation of convicted criminals inspired the Chinese with no terror, as it offered innumerable chances of eventual escape. The last convict ship of this period, the General Wood, which sailed for Penang on January 2, 1848, was piratically taken possession by the convicts, most of whom made good their escape.
Another article on the history of the Police Force in Hong Kong will appear to-morrow.
Yesterday's article dealt with the formation of the Hong Kong Police Force and its early growth. I take up the story to-day at a point during the administration of Sir John Bowring. Metaphorically speaking the Police Force were now beginning to find their feet, and new stations were being erected. In 1857 Central and West Point Stations were opened.
Sir John Bowring paid much attention to the condition of the Police Force. Being at first dissatisfied with its organisation, he appointed in August, 1855, a Commission to inquire into the Police system of the Colony and invited the public to give evidence verbally or in writing. Some changes were made in the constitution of the police force in 1857, and at the close of his administration, Sir John considered the outward appearance, discipline and general efficiency of the force to have greatly improved. He stated that the complaints under this head, which were formerly addressed to the Government were much diminished in numbers. Considering the indifferent material from which the personnel was chosen, Sir John considered the Force to be satisfactory and creditable to its superintendent, Mr. May.
It could not be expected that crime would decrease during a period of such extraordinary commotion. Yet the criminal records of Sir John's regime compare favourably with those of other periods in the history of the Colony. Hong Kong was still the recipient of the scum of South China, but despite this, Superintendent May was able to report in 1858 that the proportionate number and gravity of offences committed in Hong Kong was considerably less than in London!
The Governor believed that the spot where almost all the crime was concocted in Hong Kong was to be found in the unlicensed gambling houses of Taipingshan. Sir John dearly wanted to license these houses, for he realised that it was impossible to suppress the Chinese love for gambling. At the same time, he knew that large sums were being paid in bribes to subordinate police officers and that gambling was conducted without the slightest fear of apprehension. To all Sir John's licensing proposals, the Home Authorities turned a deaf ear, and the problem was left to be taken up in later years by Sir Richard MacDonnell.
And now we come to the police force as it existed in the days of Sir Hercules Robinson. Police and gaol experiments did not advance, even in this period of general administrative vigour, beyond the stage of unsatisfactory experiments. At the close of the year 1860, the personnel of the Police Force was considered as showing no improvement and though no very great fault was found with the police as a preventive force the whole question was one that baffled the wits of those who were responsible for the manifestly unsatisfactory general condition of the force.
Late in 1861, Bombay and Madras were tentatively resorted to as recruiting grounds. Early in the following year, drafts of recruits from these places, and later the entire force, were placed under the command of Capt. W. Quin, who had previously served in the Army and the Bombay Police.