328
GAOLS Continuation
In 1857, three European convicts escaped from the Hongkong gaol, after bribing two Indian guards. Only one man was recaptured, at Amoy. The same year, a large batch of Chinese convicts was again transported, this time to Labuan.
And so the chronicle goes on and one cannot help wondering whether the prison problem, like the water shortage, is an ever-recurring one.
*
The references to local prisons in the early years of the Colony, in yesterday's article, recall that the conferring of nicknames on such establishments goes back a good many years. The tendency to name such a place a "hotel", and attach the surname of the Superintendent, is nothing new! The old Victoria Gaol was once known as "Douglas Hotel," after the Superintendent who was appointed about seventy years ago. Reference was made yesterday to the frequent records of escapes from the prisons, and the old chronicles relate that a particularly daring one was effected in 1863, from the Hongkong gaol, when quite a number of convicts made their way out of the building by crawling through the drains. There was an outcry against what was considered laxity on the part of the officials, and a Commission—they had the Commission habit even then—was appointed to investigate matters. Following its report, a new Superintendent was appointed. He was Mr. F. Douglas, and thus arose the name of "Douglas Hotel." Evidently our forebears in Hongkong were not without their sense of humour.
It appears that the post of Superintendent of the Gaol had been most unpopular, and various Government departments were searched in vain for someone who would undertake the job, the pay for which was the fairly good one (in those days) of $120 a month with free quarters. Eventually resort was had to the shipping in port, and for a time the prison was superintended by the mate from a vessel in harbour. It is on record that the man in question had a "past" which was not quite favourable, but that did not debar him from appointment to the post.
Mr. Douglas, however, was appointed by the Secretary of State, and the prison regime improved from that date. This officer died in 1874, and references to his fine qualities were made by the Chief Justice of the time in the Supreme Court. The funeral was attended by the leading people of the Colony; and about three years later a gratuity of $1,920 was voted by the Legislative Council for his children.
"In July, 1866, three pirates were publicly executed in Hongkong. These men were implicated in the piracy of the "Carl". Previous to the execution, numerous petitions from Chinese hongs were presented to the Governor for a reprieve of one of the prisoners on the ground that the petitioners believed that it was a case of mistaken identity. In fact, so numerous were these petitioners that at one time a reprieve had actually been ordered but the prisoner himself afterwards acknowledged that he had been a cook on the piratical junk and had taken part in the affair.